


Creatures such as You and I

by GothySexBang



Series: AH Creatures!verse [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Law Enforcement, Angst, Basically a supernatural detective agency, Forced Immortality, Ghosts, I've decided Lindsay and Michael are together in this universe, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, References to Depression, References to Suicide, Supernatural Creatures AU, Thanks Gavin, They have adjoining rooms, Violence, You angsty prick, it's adorable, slow build relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-08-15 14:51:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 51,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8060731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothySexBang/pseuds/GothySexBang
Summary: Being hired to work at the Hunters' Supernatural Unit was a great opportunity for Jeremy.Although he wasn't expecting to find himself dragged into their weird found family and dealing with the threat of an evil coven of witches.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit I'm a bit nervous about posting this, but I hope you guys like it.  
> I wanted to write supernatural characters so I did, and I'm really excited about where this story could go!  
> Anyway, enjoy and I'll write stuff about post schedule and such at the end :)

Jeremy had to admit, the building wasn’t _exactly_ what he was expecting.

When he thought of law enforcement he thought of large grey buildings, small offices and crap coffee; the building in front of him looked more like an oversized family home. He was greeted by red brick walls and wide windows and… was that a window box full of brightly coloured petunias? This place was weird…

Maybe he had the wrong address?

He was just about to check the map on his phone again when an SUV pulled into the small parking lot and a woman with bright blonde hair stepped out, turning around to retrieve two bags of what seemed to be groceries from the passenger seat. As she made her way up the path to the front door of the building she seemed to finally notice his presence, staring at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before recognition bloomed over her face.

“Oh, you must be the new guy!” She smiled, edging one of her hands away from its grip on the bag to offer Jeremy a small wave. “Dooley, isn’t it?” She paused for a moment, allowing him to nod before continuing, juggling the groceries slightly between her hands. “Brilliant! You don’t think you could give me a hand with these could you? I need to get to my keys.”

Jeremy realised he had been staring at the woman for the duration of their exchange and snapped back into focus, “Oh, oh yeah, no problem.” With a smile he took the bags out of her hands, allowing her to fish around in her purse, eventually pulling out an overloaded set of keys, keyrings jangling and sparkling in the fading sunlight. “So, uh, I have got the right place then? This is the Hunters’ base?”

The woman slotted her keys into the keyhole and twisted, once, twice, three times before the door swung open, revealing a spacious entryway and a staircase leading to an upstairs landing. “Yep, you’ve got the right place, despite how it looks. Just stick those bags down here,” she pointed at a dark wooden side table pressed against the wall by the door, “and you might want to go and collect your bag from the roadside, it’s not going to do you much good out there.” She grinned cheekily at him and for a moment he blanked completely.

Then with a sudden rush of realisation he glanced behind him to where his old, battered suitcase was leaning against a wall. With a curse he rushed to grab it, dragging it behind him back into the building as the uneven wheels clattered against the paving stones. He stopped abruptly in front of the woman and smiled shyly. “Sorry, big day, you know. I’m just a bit…” His tired mind struggled to find the words.

“Out of sorts? It’s fine, I understand.” The woman offered him a kind smile before offering him her hand to shake. “I’m Lindsay, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Jeremy.” He answered, clasping her warm hand gently. “Thanks for being okay with, all of that weirdness…”

Lindsay laughed brightly, withdrawing her hand from his. “Trust me Jeremy, in this place you’ll get used to much weirder than that. Now close the door and come in properly. Leave your bag by the door, we’ll get you set up in your room in a little bit.” She gestured for him to follow and set off down the hallway, into the second room to their left.

Clicking the door shut behind him he followed her gingerly, allowing his eyes to wander over the various objects decorating the walls; there were paintings which looked older than the house itself, a few weapons here and there, obviously used from the condition of them, and other various knickknacks. Turning into the room Lindsay had entered he was met with four people; a tall, lanky man with dark hair, a scruffier guy, Lindsay herself and another woman with darker skin and two-toned hair.

The new woman grinned at his entrance, an assessing look in her eyes. “Hmm, so you’re the fresh meat are you?” She smiled, patting him lightly on the cheek before whirling lightly on her feet to settle herself back into a comfy looking office chair.

“Mica, don’t scare off the new guy before we even get through introductions.” Lindsay scolded, although Jeremy could tell that there was no real threat behind her words. She turned back to Jeremy, her eyes bright as she seemed to size him up, “So this is what we like to call the B team. They do recon, investigative stuff mostly, and provide backup in the field if the main team need it.”

“Come on, take a seat, I’ll introduce you.” Jeremy settled himself on the vacant couch at the side of the room and focused his attention back on Lindsay.

She pointed at scruffy-guy first, “That’s Matt, he doesn’t do much. He’s a bit like a goldfish that eats junk food and is really good at digging up information on people.” For a moment it looked like Matt was going to argue, then he seemed to realise it was too much effort to argue and just shrugged, shooting Jeremy a brief wave.

Next she points at the other woman, “This one is Mica,” Mica sticks her tongue out at Lindsay although the older woman doesn’t seem to notice, or at least doesn’t acknowledge her. “Don’t trust anything she says unless it is verified by someone else first.” Lindsay seems to take a moment to think and then adds, “Except for Ryan, those two are as bad as each other…”

“And that’s Trevor.” She gestured in the tall guy’s general direction. “He’s a lanky motherfucker.”

“Hey, I’m more than that!” Trevor piped up.

“Yeah, but I’ll let the others tell him all the stories about you.” Lindsay grinned evilly at him and Trevor seemed about to argue back when he thought better of it, instead turning back to Jeremy and telling him in an overly dramatic voice, “Don’t trust anything they tell you, for a team of highly-specialised crime-fighters sometimes they’re the worst gossips in the world.”

Lindsay rolled her eyes at him before looking back over at Jeremy who was trying to yawn discreetly into the back of his hand. “So, I’ll show you where your room is and let you get settled in.” She ushered him out of his seat and back into the entryway where his bag waited for him. After making sure he had his things with him she led him up the stairs, down and around a short corridor with a number of doors branching off of it and then up another set of stairs.

As they reached the top step she turned to smile at him, producing a small key on a ring from one of her pockets and slotting it into one of the doors on their right. The door opened onto a decently-sized room currently housing a bed, chest of drawers and wardrobe and a small selection of cardboard boxes which he had sent ahead of himself from Boston.

“I think all of your stuff is here. If there’s anything missing just let me know and I’ll chase it down for you.”

Jeremy smiled at her concern, stepping into the room and appreciating the last rays of the day’s sunlight streaming through the large window which took up one wall. “No, it should be fine, I think they all got here okay.” He mentally counted off the number of boxes he had sent against the number currently in front of him, it seemed to match up.

Lindsay barked a sudden laugh and smiled at him, “Oh, no I meant since they got here. The only people here when they arrived were Mica and Gavin, and I wouldn’t trust those two to keep their noses out of something new and interesting if my life depended on it, too many years between them.” Her smile hardened into a conspiratorial grin as she continued, “If there’s anything missing, I’ll make sure you get it back, one way or another.”

Jeremy had the sudden urge to hide with his tail between his legs from the vengeful woman standing in the doorway of his new room, but he tamped down on the urge and smiled back at her. “Thanks Lindsay.” He glanced around the room, looking in despair at the number of things he needed to unpack. “I think I’m going to get a start on sorting all of this out and chill out for a bit, it’s been a long day.” And it had, it felt like he’d been travelling for weeks, despite only leaving Boston earlier that morning.

“That’s fine. I’ll come and get you when dinner’s ready if you want? Or when the team gets back, for introductions? Whichever happens first.” She smiled at his answering nod and then turned away and closed the door behind her.

Jeremy heaved a heavy sigh, raking his eyes over the collection of things which currently made up all of his worldly possessions. Deciding that he could afford to take a minute to rest before making a start he let himself collapse back onto his new bed and stare up at the ceiling, shards of light dancing across the smooth surface as the sun continued to set.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, sinking gently into the mattress.

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy’s eyes opened with a snap at the sound of loud knocking at his door, groaning as he forced himself upright and towards the source of his rude awakening.

After grasping for the handle for what was probably too long Jeremy yanked the door open, glaring at the two men who stood on the other side grinning back at him.

The taller man with the fancy moustache looked him up and down, the younger curly-haired man looking behind him nosily at his room. After allowing a few moments of scrutinisation he cleared his throat, pulling the two strangers’ attention back to the fact that there was an actual person standing in front of them, rather than some sort of side show.

The older man jumped “Oh, sorry, you must be Jeremy?” He held out a hand which Jeremy took hold of, noting how the other man felt colder than average. “You’re shorter than I expected, I thought all you guys were meant to be, you know…” He trailed off whilst holding his arms out to his side and attempting to bulk himself up.

“Dude, I think that’s racist or something…” The younger guy chimed in, shaking his head in dismay at his elder.

Allowing the other man to play out whatever nonsense he was pulling the young man held out a hand to Jeremy, “I’m Michael, that’s Geoff. Very sorry to say but he’s the head of our little team."

Jeremy couldn’t help but chuckle at the man’s disappointment in what was essentially his boss, glad to see that – at least when they weren’t in the field – the team so far seemed pretty relaxed around each other. “It’s nice to meet you.” He smiled back at the two of them. “Not that I’m upset about it or anything, but why did you knock? Did you need something?”

Geoff seemed to snap out of whatever strange place his mind had gone with his strong-man impression and turned back to Jeremy, “Oh yeah! Lindsay asked us to come and get you, we just got back and dinner’s nearly ready.” He glances down at Michael and continues slightly quieter, “I swear that woman is psychic or something, she always knows when to expect us back…”

Michael scoffs at him “That’s because Ryan tells her when we’re on our way home, have you not noticed?” His tone was exasperated but there was the suggestion of underlying affection in his words too.

“Oh, well either way, dinner’s ready. We should get down there before Jack eats everything and we’re left to starve to death.” Geoff laughs at his own joke before heading down the stairs, gesturing for the other two to follow him.

Michael shoots him a look before following behind him and Jeremy begins to wonder what exactly he’s gotten himself into.

 

\-------------------

 

Arriving downstairs was certainly an experience.

What had seemed like a large house when he had arrived now seemed full to the brim with people, voices bouncing between the walls from what he assumed was a dining room of some kind.

Stepping inside he worked out why, there was more than double the amount of people who had been present before.

A long table was laid out before him, food dotted across it as people reached to fill their plates, tacos from what he could see. At one end of the table sat Geoff, and Jeremy supposed that made sense, from what he'd been told of the unit over email Geoff had pretty much founded the whole operation.

He was a little surprised to see Lindsay sat at the other end, Michael pulling out a seat to her side. He supposed that she must be more important than he had previously anticipated.

Jeremy recognised the majority of faces around the table, Mica, Trevor and Matt looking up to give him smiles or small waves as he entered the room. However, there were a few strangers too, three to be exact.

One was a large man, long ginger beard impressive as he sat to Geoff’s side, apparently too wrapped up in whatever story he was telling the older man to notice the new arrival. The other two were sat opposite each other, one beside Michael, the other across from the first mystery man.

Lindsay gestured to him to come and sit in the free seat opposite Michael, at her right side. Smiling at the offer he made his way over and settled into his new seat, the two strangers showing obvious interest in their new dinner companion.

“Jeremy, glad you made it, thought you were going to sleep all night.” Lindsay laughed teasingly, reaching out to press his hair back into some sort of respectable shape in spite of what must have been some impressive bedhead. The other three around them chuckled lightly at the woman’s mothering over their new recruit, waiting until she was finished to introduce themselves properly.

Jeremy rolled his eyes at her before glancing curiously at the two strangers sat with them, taking in their appearances quickly in the moment of silence. The one sat beside Michael looked younger, probably about Michael’s age, with messy hair and a noticeably large nose. He seemed to be drinking from an opaque bottle of some sort and ignoring the food set out in front of them.

The man sat beside him looked slightly older, dark blonde hair fell around his face and there was a spark of mischief in his eyes as he laughed at Lindsay’s antics. Unlike the man across from him he had a heavily-loaded plate in front of him in which he seemed to have already made a decent sized dent.

Lindsay pointed to the men one after another; the one beside him, apparently named Ryan, gave a small wave as he was introduced, the other, Gavin, smiled softly at him before going back to his bottle of mystery liquid.

The conversation drifted from there, Jeremy not massively involved but interested in listening as he ate. They were catching Lindsay up on their mission for the day, apparently going on a moderately successful ghost hunt. Jeremy listened intently to the story, hearing about how they had tracked the entity using information found by the B team and eventually laid it to rest so it would no longer bother anyone else.

As Ryan was wrapping up the story, Jeremy noticed Lindsay frowning in Gavin’s direction. The man had finished whatever had been in the bottle and had set it aside, his plate still empty before him as he joined in with the conversation. “Gav, do you not want something to eat? You must be hungry after today?” There was enough concern in her voice that Jeremy figured this was a reoccurring problem with the man.

Gavin glanced up at her, smiling slightly “I’m fine Linds, not really hungry today.”

“That’s what you said yesterday, boy.” Michael chipped in, worry obvious on his face as he reached out to place a hand on his friend’s arm. “You sure you’re alright?”

Gavin paused for a moment, looking down at the hand on his arm before pulling away gently, moving to stand up. “I’m fine, really. Just tired.” He smiled and Jeremy had to admit that the darkened bags under his eyes and the way his skin pulled against his face did lend him a somewhat exhausted air. “I think I’m just going to head to bed. Excuse me.”

The man turned to leave, every person in the room watching him go, some curiously if they had not heard the conversation, some with a slight uneasiness at the man’s actions.

Once Gavin was gone, Jeremy looked around at his remaining dining companions curiously, “Is he okay, I mean… Did something happen?”

Ryan shook his head sadly, “It’s a long story, and you’ll need to know it eventually, but for now just trust us and leave him be for a bit. He gets like this sometimes.” The older man was still looking out towards where Gavin exited, worry etched across his features. “It comes with the age.”

Jeremy wanted to ask more but found that apparently Gavin’s exit had been the cue for everyone to begin cleaning up. The dishes were gathered and taken through to what he assumed was a kitchen, any mess made cleaned up and the group dispersing to various areas of the house. Jeremy noticed that Geoff seemed to drift off in the same direction Gavin had taken, possibly going to check up on the Brit.

Lindsay tugged on his elbow to catch his attention. “You’re welcome to do whatever you want, you have free reign of all the shared areas of the house, just like everybody else. But if you want I can drag Michael into doing the dishes for me and give you a proper tour? Then hopefully you won’t get lost.” She grinned at him and he found that he couldn’t say no to her offer, the lure of actually knowing where he was going too much to resist.

He nodded mutely as she smiled, corralling Michael into the kitchen with instructions to help the one man Jeremy hadn’t met (Jack apparently, from Lindsay’s shouting) with the dishes. When she came back she looped an arm through Jeremy’s and began to make her way down the hallway

“Now where to start? Oh, I know! The games room!”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2, quite a bit of talking but we find out the species' of everyone so that's fun :)  
> Enjoy guys

Jeremy would like to say he was surprised by the loud knocking which, once again, woke him from his slumber.

Sadly, he could see this becoming a recurring theme in this house.

“What!?” He swung the door open to a not-as-surprised-as-Jeremy-would-have-expected Geoff, hand still raised to continue his assault on Jeremy’s poor innocent door.

Geoff dropped his hand to his side, smirk firmly in place “I thought we could talk before everyone else gets up and we need to start doing proper work. Meet me in my office in ten?”

Jeremy frowned at the older man, surely this could have waited? But he still found himself giving a nod of assent as he worked out where exactly Geoff’s office was in the house.

Geoff clapped his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder “Great!” The tattooed man turned to walk away before spinning back suddenly, “Oh, and Jeremy?”

Jeremy glanced up, honestly he was still a bit drowsy from his rude awakening, “Huh?”

“Maybe put some clothes on first, yeah?” Geoff giggled to himself as Jeremy realised that he was stood in the hallway in just an old pair of boxers, chest bare to anyone who may wander by. With a speed he hadn’t thought he was capable at this time of the morning Jeremy whipped around and closed the door in Geoff’s face, cheeks flushing as he moved to get ready for the day ahead.

 

\-------------------

 

Just under ten minutes later, Jeremy found himself stood in front of (what he was pretty sure was) Geoff’s office. He was just considering whether he should knock or just walk in when Geoff himself turned around the corner, two mugs of coffee in his hands, and quite obviously not expecting Jeremy to be stood outside his door.

The younger man stepped out of the way just in time to avoid being covered in hot coffee, Geoff finally looking up at the sound of him moving out of the way.

“Holy shitsticks! You’re actually here on time!” He looked at Jeremy with a bit more wonder than the other man thought was strictly necessary before continuing. “Could you, uh, get the door for me?” Gesturing with his full hands in the direction of the door handle.

Jeremy fumbled for a moment before reaching to open the door, stepping to the side to allow Geoff to slide past him into his office first. “Thanks Jeremy, grab a seat.” The older man gestured towards a couple of cushioned armchairs set up in the corner of the room around a coffee table, so Jeremy figured this was an informal meeting.

Once they were settled, strong, black coffee clutched like a lifeline in both of their grasps, Geoff seemed to take a moment to consider the man in front of him. Jeremy squirmed slightly under the scrutiny but for the most part sat still, desperately trying to work out where he should be looking.

“So, Jeremy.” Geoff was still looking straight at him, a serious expression on his face which Jeremy was already beginning to consider rare from the other man.

“Yes?” He answered.

Geoff took a breath, “I’m assuming you’ve been told exactly what it is we do here? What’s special about this unit over others in the area?”

Jeremy paused for a moment, he knew the answer but he suddenly doubted himself. “You’re a, um, a supernatural taskforce?” He continued at Geoff’s nod of confirmation. “The team is made up of various supernaturals who have grouped together to try and handle crimes committed by other supers. The regular police weren’t able to handle it because they didn’t have the necessary knowledge so this unit was formed.” By the end of his explanation he sounded much more confident and Geoff was nodding along.

“That’s good, glad you’re mostly up to speed. I don’t suppose any of the others have let you know what they are yet?” At the shake of Jeremy’s head Geoff sighed. “Sorry, they’re used to everyone around here knowing, it must have slipped their minds. I’ll give you a quick rundown so you’re up to speed, then let you know what’s been going on recently, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. I think I picked up on a few people yesterday anyway, I’m not sure though?” Jeremy mumbled as he trailed off.

“Oh yeah? Well let’s see what you’ve got so far?” Geoff challenged, setting his mug in front of him and leaning forward on his elbows, one eyebrow quirked inquisitively.

“Well, you and Gavin are both vampires, I’m sure about that.” Geoff grinned at him, letting his fangs slide down into place as confirmation. “I think Lindsay is something to do with fire maybe? She feels warm?”

“Phoenix.” Geoff filled in for him.

“Ah, cool.” It was cool, Jeremy had never met a phoenix before. “Mica and Michael smell similar, woody or something. And like magic. But Michael’s scent isn’t as strong… So I think Mica something fae, and Michael’s something similar?”

“You’re right about Mica, and Michael is a changeling. They actually both originate from the same court of fairies so that’s probably why they smell so similar.” Geoff gestured for him to go on.

“From what little I saw of Jack, he’s big and he smells earthy so… part giant?”

“Half actually, he’s surprisingly small for it but apparently his mom was the runt of her family.” Geoff responded. Jeremy knew he was almost there, wracking his brains for the last few people.

“Matt, Trevor and Ryan were all really strange, I’m not sure about those three…?” There was something familiar about all of them but Jeremy just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Geoff laughed, “They’re all a bit odd to be fair, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d never run across their types before. Matt is technically undead, although he generally prefers ‘risen’. Apparently some nutjob necromancer back in the 80’s decided to have a play around with preservation magic in a morgue and now here he is.” Geoff did a little flourish with his hands, as though he was presenting something wonderful to Jeremy.

“Trevor is a third generation cambion.”

Jeremy started at that, he’d heard of cambions, “He’s a demon?”

“Partly, his great grandfather was a demon, or I suppose is, he’s probably still out there somewhere. But Trevor’s grandfather resisted the demon blood and lived a pretty normal life, he eventually had a daughter, who eventually had Trevor. The demon blood’s pretty weak but he’s still stronger than the average human.”

Jeremy nodded along to Geoff’s explanation, admittedly a little relieved his new workmate wasn’t a full-on demon. “And Ryan?”

Geoff sighed, “Urgh, Ryan. Trying to explain him is something else… The basics are that he’s technically human, just more.” Geoff’s hands were working hard to keep up with his description, the man obviously trying hard to find the right words to describe the other man. “He’s a magic user, self-taught mostly. But he’s also, through a series of unfortunate occurrences, cursed with immortality.”

“Huh?” Jeremy had to admit, he wasn’t expecting that.

“Yeah, there was a whole thing with his dad and a mermaid tail. I’m sure he’ll tell you the whole story one day.” Realising they had gotten to the end of their list Geoff grinned at Jeremy, “And that’s everyone, except you. Werewolf right?”

“Uh, yeah. Born into a pack up near Boston. I joined the police as soon as I was old enough and now I’m here.” Jeremy explained, a slightly nervous smile on his face. Compared to some of the other people here his story seemed almost boring.

Geoff tapped a file on the table in front of him, “Yup, it’s all in here, just checking that you’re who you say you are, dude.” The other man considered him for a moment before continuing, “You know, a lot of the guys here started as cops like you; Trevor, Lindsay, Jack, myself, and I’m sure Gavin’s had a hand in some sort of law enforcement over the years. So you really shouldn’t feel left out or inferior, we’re all here for the same reason.”

Jeremy felt a little more welcomed after that, with Geoff smiling over at him he could almost see himself as part of this mish-mash team they’d created.

“But, there’s more to tell you,” Geoff clapped his hands together loudly, surprising Jeremy out of his contemplation. “Have you been told why you were brought on to this team?”

“I’m not sure, I assumed you needed some more muscle or something like that…?” Jeremy replied, waiting for the vampire to elaborate.

Geoff sighed, “Well, this is where things get a little more complicated. About eight months ago, something happened which resulted in the death of one of our colleagues and the kidnapping of another. Although kidnapping seems kind of fucking inadequate for what actually happened!” Geoff was obviously still quite agitated by the events he was explaining, Jeremy chose to let him finish without interruption, simply offering up a nod to show he was listening.

The vampire gave him a grateful smile before continuing, “I sent the two of them out on a simple surveillance job. We’d been hearing rumours of a coven that had gone bad, sacrificing shit and generally fucking everything up, so I sent Gavin and Ray in to have a look around.” He rubbed at his temples as though he had a headache coming on, “Turns out that they must have caught on to them because they were ambushed. Gavin was shot and by the time he realised what was going on they already had Ray. They uh… They killed him right there in front of Gavin…”

Geoff seemed to take a moment to gather himself, pulling in a deep breath before finishing his story. “Apparently Gav was surprised enough that they managed to capture him. They had him for almost a week before we managed to track them down. Dude, it was a fucking shitshow in there by the time we got there! Evidently they had a lot of use for vampire parts because they’d cut enough bits off of him that we were worried he wouldn’t heal up from it… Luckily, as you know, he made a full recovery, mostly.”

Jeremy thought about what he had been told for a bit whilst Geoff gathered himself from his bout of storytelling. “So what happened with the coven? Did you get them?” He was secretly praying for an affirmative, although, from what he’d seen of Gavin last night he didn’t seem like a vampire who had been sleeping easy for the last few months.

“We got some of them, we think about half.” A furious expression came over Geoff’s face, “Which is a real shame, because I would love to know those bitches were burning in hell right now. But a bunch of the assholes weren’t at the place they were holding Gavin at the time and we haven’t been able to track them down.” An involuntary noise of concern slipped from Jeremy’s mouth but Geoff didn’t seem to acknowledge it if he heard it. “The worst part is that we never found Ray’s body, so we couldn’t even give him a proper burial.”

Silence fell over the room for a few minutes after that, both of them seemingly lost in their thoughts.

The moment was broken by Geoff clapping his hands together suddenly, “So that’s our depressing history lesson out of the way, do you see why we needed you here now? You’ll be a massive help if we do run into the coven again and we need more people on the frontlines helping out.”

“Well, I definitely want to help, what you guys have been doing here seems pretty amazing. I loved working as a cop but it was just a bit…” Jeremy wasn’t sure how to finish his sentence but Geoff seemed to understand, nodding as he stood from his seat, grabbing his now empty coffee mug as he made his way towards the door.

“I get it, you need something more personal to you, right?” Jeremy nodded even though Geoff surely couldn’t see from where he was facing away from him. “Anyway, let’s head out to meet the others, they’ll probably be waking up soon and I always like to make sure there’s fresh coffee available or trying to get them to do any actual work before noon is like herding fucking cats.”

He held the door open for Jeremy, letting the smaller man slip under his arm and out of the room, the two of them making their way towards the kitchen in companionable silence.

 

\-------------------

 

They’d been sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen for just a few minutes before the first other person arrived, a particularly tired looking Michael who made a beeline for the coffee machine, pouring himself a mug before he moved to join them, plopping himself down and resting his head on Geoff’s shoulder.

The older man reached up and patted the curls against his shoulder, “I know buddy, mornings are tough right?” Michael just grunted in answer as Jeremy looked on in curiosity, nibbling on a piece of toast.

The trickle of people in and out of the kitchen picked up after that, the whole B team drifting in to collect coffee and breakfast before leaving again without a word, only Lindsay stopping for a moment to explain, “We think we’ve got a lead on one of the cases we’re working on so we’re probably going to be working pretty constantly through the day.” Geoff had just nodded and told her to make sure everyone took breaks.

By that point they had also been joined by the mysterious Jack, who turned out to be less mysterious and more like a big teddy bear.

“So how was your flight over yesterday? You find the house okay?” The bearded man was smiling down at Jeremy after having already introduced himself with a firm handshake.

“The flight was fine, there was a bit of a delay boarding at Boston but it wasn’t too bad. And I just got a taxi over and hoped for the best to be honest, I wasn’t going to risk anything else, I’m not the best with directions…” Jeremy chuckled nervously, glad to see Jack laughing along lightly with him.

The peace was broken by Gavin and Ryan entering, doing what could only be called squabbling, “I’m just saying, at your age you should be able to pronounce words properly, Ry-bread!”

Ryan scoffed at him, “Well, you’re older than me and you haven’t stopped speaking in that ridiculous accent so I feel like you really haven’t got a foot to stan on.”

“Stan, Ryan, really?”

“Oh shut up.”

Jeremy turned to Jack “Are they always like this?”

The bearded man sighed, “Pretty much.”

“What did Stan ever do to you Ryan, why are you putting your minging foot near him?” Gavin was giggling now, poking at Ryan’s shoulder; Jeremy couldn’t help but notice that when he smiled the tired look on his face didn’t seem so bad.

Ryan had apparently taken to ignoring the Brit, choosing to sit next to Geoff and nurse a mug of coffee. Leaving Gavin to eventually settle himself beside Jeremy once he had made himself a cup of tea.

“Jeremy?”

“Yes, Gavin?” Jeremy answered warily.

“You’re really short, Jeremy.” Gavin grinned at him “You’re like little Jeremy.”

“Lil’ J!” Michael piped up from the other side of the breakfast bar, smirking tiredly across at Jeremy as he reached to fist bump his friend.

Geoff knocked the two men’s hands away from each other, chuckling slightly “You two should try not to piss Jeremy off too much, he’s probably going to be saving your fucking useless asses soon enough.”

“Oi, Geoffrey! What do you mean by that? We’re both highly respected in our individual species’ circles!” Gavin pouted at the other vampire.

“Gav, last I checked the fairies were pretty much just after Michael because he told them to fuck off. And most of the other vampires barely know you exist, and it’s really your own fault after running off to become a massive fucking cliché hiding in a goddamn bell tower in Italy for half a century!” Geoff scoffed loudly.

“Yeah, well, shut up!”

“Original answer there Gav!” Ryan cheered from his seat by Geoff, tossing a pair of sarcastic thumbs up Gavin’s way.

“Okay, okay, let’s stop this!” Jack waved his hands in the air in an attempt to catch the others’ attentions, surprisingly it worked (although Jeremy had a feeling it had to do with the fact that Jack’s hands were about the size of Jeremy’s head) and the others seemed to settle down slightly. “Good, now Geoff, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Well, I figured we could send Jeremy off with the lads to follow up on that disturbance that keeps cropping up. It’s probably just the pixies again or something, nothing too tough to handle. You think you’re up for that, Jeremy?” Geoff glanced over at Jeremy, making eye contact with a curious look in his eyes.

Jeremy smiled, nodding slightly, “Sure, sounds fine.”

“Jeremy gets to join team lads!” Gavin cheered, seeming to prompt Michael into starting a chant of the two words over and over again. Jeremy had no idea what was going on, but the energy and enthusiasm was infectious and he soon found himself grinning along with the others.

“I’m still not sure how you can be counted as a lad when you’re literally the oldest one here, Gavin?” Ryan asked, perplexed.

“Being a lad isn’t about age Ry-bread, it’s a state of mind.” The vampire answered sagely, the solemnity of his words somewhat brought down by Michael’s continued chanting in the background.

Geoff looked sceptically at the other vampire, “Also, you act like a fucking child, so that helps.”

“Geoff, how could you, Geoff? That’s mean.” Gavin pouted at him.

“Okay, everyone shut up.” Geoff brought a hand down on Michael’s head, surprising him out of his shouting, “That means you too, you loud fuck.”

“Sorry, Geoff.” Michael grinned up at his elder.

“Alright then, well whilst the lads are dealing with that the rest of us will head off to do some final checks around that ghost yesterday.” For a moment Geoff looked almost concerned. “There’s a few things which are annoying me about that case and I just want to double check some of the reports and make sure everything is fine with the family. Okay?”

A chorus of yes’s and head nods met him.

“Fucking awesome! Now lads get out of my face and go do some fucking work before I fire your asses! Gents be ready in fifteen.” With that the group scattered, Gavin and Michael grabbing Jeremy between them to aim him in the direction they needed to head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed, chapter 3 should be up next Sunday :)   
> Also, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who commented, bookmarked or left kudos on the last chapter, or even just read it really, I really appreciate it guys, so cheers for that :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On to chapter three! With pixies and spriggans and napping vampires, oh my!  
> Enjoy!

Gavin was tired, bone-aching, head-drooping, about-to-just-lie-on-the-floor-and-pass-out tired. But as he made his way towards Michael’s car he made sure to flash a grin at his friend, watching some of the concern melt from his expression at the show of his usual energy.

Reaching the car, he rounded to the passenger side, about to open the door when Michael dragged him back, “Hey, no. Jeremy you’re in the front.” The curly haired changeling gestured for Jeremy to approach the door, making sure he got in before moving to take his place in the driver’s seat.

“But Boi, why?” Gavin whined from the back seat, arms hooked over Jeremy and Michael’s headrests to poke his face through the gap in the middle.

“Because you fuck with the radio and it’s fucking distracting, dumbass! Now get your massive nose out of the way, it’s blocking my view of the road.” Michael laughed at Gavin’s groans and complaints, throwing a grin backwards to make sure there were no hard feelings.

Gavin tried to maintain a pout but felt a smile sneaking its way onto his lips involuntarily.

“So, uh, what are we doing?” Jeremy piped up from the passenger seat, unsure if he was interrupting something.

“Oh, sorry Jeremy. There’s a group of pixies on the outskirts of the city, they usually stay far enough away that they don’t bother anyone but every now and then we get noise complaints and have to go and warn them to keep their distance.” Michael grinned into the rear-view mirror at Gavin, “They throw a hell of a party though, isn’t that right Gavvy?”

Gavin nodded, smirking at Michael, “Last time we saw them Michael drank too much wine and ended up stuck in a tree, it took us half an hour to get him back on solid ground.”

“Oh, like you can talk, fucker. Pretty sure I saw you being beaten in a drinking contest by one of the pixie girls.” Michael laughed at his friend, “You know you don’t have to take the whole ‘drinking someone under the table’ thing literally, right?”

“You’re a right little jebpiece, Michael.”

“Only because I’ve spent so much time with you, boy. Your jebiness rubbed off.” Gavin was sulking in the backseat so Michael finished his explanation to Jeremy. “Basically we go in, check that they’re not going too wild and make sure they haven’t noticed anything strange. They’re good sources of information, most of the supernaturals which live on the outskirts interact with them pretty regularly.”

It sounded like an easy job to Jeremy, “So why did you need me to come along?”

“I’m pretty sure Geoff’s just easing you in, and they’re a pretty good group, it’s useful to know them and for them to know you. You never know when you’re going to need information.” Michael wagged a finger at him before focusing his eyes back on the road, now a narrow path leading towards a small forest in the distance.

Michael side-eyed him, smiling slightly, “Normally we bring Ryan so we can bev it up a bit with the pixies. He doesn’t drink so he gets the job of designated driver.”

“Me and Lil’ J can still drink, it’s just you who can’t.” Gavin piped up from the back of the car, ignoring the safety of seatbelts in favour of lounging across the seats.

“Shut up, dickbrain!” Michael growled, spinning in his seat to level a stare at Gavin. Vampire sufficiently cowed he turned back to the road, suddenly calmer. “None of us are drinking. Geoff wants us back as soon as we’re done, said he has another job for us.”

It was only minutes before they were pulling into an empty dirt parking lot next to the edge of the forest, Michael ushering the other two out and stretching before looking around. “Okay, so apparently the group was last seen around here somewhere, with any luck they haven’t already moved on.”

The trio made their way to the treeline, sharp eyes looking for clues of the (hopefully still current) inhabitants. “So these guys are nomadic?” Jeremy asked inquisitively. Growing up in the city he hadn’t had much interaction with some of the woodsier supernatural races.

Gavin turned to look at him, “Kind of, the little guys tend to stick to one large area and then move around within it. It lets them know their environment whilst still being somewhat difficult to track down. I think they have about ten different sites around the outskirts of Austin at this point, is that right Michael?”

“About that yeah.” The changeling seemed distracted, eyes locked on a distinctive tree up ahead. “Hey, chucklefucks, if I remember correctly it’s just past this tree.” He signalled for the two to follow behind him, pulling branches away from their faces as they made their way through the brush.

Eventually they found themselves in a clearing, a couple of small fire pits were smouldering around the space and about a dozen or so tiny people inhabited the small field.

One of the pixies noticed them first, rising to his feet with a huff and making his way to them. “Free, Jones, Free and Jones’ friend. What can we do you for? We’re in a bit of a bind at the moment so we haven’t really been keeping up with forest gossip, but we’ll try to help however we can.”

Now that they were closer, it was easier to see the finer characteristics of the pixie who stood before them. He was probably just over a foot tall with sharp facial features and deep laughter lines. He had kind eyes which were currently bogged down with tiredness, dark bags hanging below them. His posture seemed limp, somehow, deprived of energy and filled instead with worry.

Gavin frowned down at the man he knew as the pixies’ chief, “You’re not looking too hot there, mate. Anything we can help _you_ with?” Concern laced his words.

The older pixie offered them a tired smile, “I mean, if you don’t mind? We’ve been having some trouble with a spriggan for just the last few days. The damn thing’s been throwing up a ruckus and going on rampages through our camp.” He sighed, glancing over at where the majority of his group were huddled together. “The problem is that he’s already managed to injure three of us. We can’t move on until they’re in a better condition but he keeps running around shouting about territory when we’ve been coming here for over fifty years with no problems.”

Michael nodded, settling himself cross-legged on the ground to allow for something closer to eye-contact, Gavin and Jeremy quickly following suit. “How often would you say he comes through?”

The pixie thought for a moment, “A few times a day, probably about three or four. We haven’t seen him yet today though. I’m pretty sure he’s just running circles around the forest, declaring it his territory, sleeping where he drops and then starting up all over again.”

“Okay, well we’ll stay here until he comes through again. Don’t worry, we’ll get this sorted out.” Michael smiled reassuringly at the chief.

The end of their discussion seemed to be a trigger for the rest of the group to converge on them, Michael and Gavin striking up conversations with pixies they obviously knew from previous visits whilst Jeremy found himself being formally introduced to the chief (apparently ‘Zephyr’) and his wife (‘Tori’ she announced with a gentle handshake.)

Glancing over he saw Gavin sat with a much smaller pixie perched on his knee. She was talking excitedly to him and he was nodding away, smiling brightly as the little girl presumably regaled him with everything which had happened since their last meeting.

“Has Gavin made a friend?” He asked offhandedly, happy to see the vampire looking so genuinely perky for the first time since they met.

Tori giggled from where she stood by his knee, “Oh, that’s our little Dove. Gavin saved her about a year ago and I think she may have developed a bit of a crush.”

Jeremy laughed as they continued to watch, Gavin had one hand cupped around Dove’s back to stop her from falling off his leg. Apparently it was needed because her wild arm movements almost led to her tumbling to the side, Gavin catching her just in time resulting in her gazing up at him as though he hung the stars.

The cute moment was broken by the sound of crashing coming from the treeline, all three of them jumping from their seated positions, Gavin still holding Dove cradled in his hands. He gently set her down, ushering her over towards Zephyr and Tori as the three Hunters turned to form a united front.

Gavin in the middle took a step forward, gesturing with placating hands for the others to stay back, “I think I can handle this lads, just be ready in case I need back up.” Jeremy glanced over at Michael only to find the changeling was nodding in agreement, determination and tension keeping him prepared to jump into the fray if needed. Jeremy followed his lead, turning his attention back to the vampire before them.

Gavin was walking confidently towards where the spriggan had emerged from the trees, all eight foot of the bark-like skin and ugly, snarling face turned to stare at him. The vampire held out both hands, his presence suddenly exuding a pressure which hadn’t been present before.

Suddenly, Gavin spoke, his voice deeper than usual with a strange lilt to the accent, “ ** _Calm, Creature. What have these people done to deserve your ire?_** ” A strange feeling of peace washed over Jeremy and he begun to realise that there may be more to Gavin’s abilities than just enhanced strength and speed.

For a moment, silence reigned over the clearing, everyone holding their breath as a mute conversation seemed to occur between the vampire and spriggan before them. The two opponents stood frozen, leaving the observers to watch with baited breath.

It seemed as though Gavin had things under control, the spriggan’s body relaxing more and more the longer they were locked in mental conflict, until the sound of a twig snapping somewhere behind them flicked a switch in the creature’s head.

The large tree-beast’s muscles tensed and Jeremy reacted on instinct, flinging himself forwards into a tackle around what seemed to serve as the spriggan’s waist. He fell to the ground, the spriggan struggling below him as his muscles strained in holding it down.

Rushed footsteps approached from the side, Gavin dropping to a crouch beside them with a grimace on his face. “Well, that didn’t go as planned.” He glanced up at Jeremy’s face, “You okay holding him for a minute?” Jeremy only nodded, putting all of his effort into holding the large creature to the ground. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Both of Gavin’s hands shot out, catching the spriggan’s face between them and tugging it to face him. With eye contact made Jeremy watched as Gavin’s eyes began to glow an eerie yellow, his face twisted with concentration.

It was several minutes before the creature relaxed beneath him. At some point Michael had joined him in holding the spriggan down and they both breathed sighs of relief as Gavin sat back on his heels with a tired groan. “Alright lads, you can let go now. He’s all good.”

And apparently he was right because almost as soon as they released the spriggan he began to shrink, ending up only about half a foot taller than the pixies which surrounded them. The now-shrunken spriggan sat up, one small hand reaching up to rub at his forehead.

“Urgh, what the hell happened.” Jeremy had to admit that he wasn’t expecting the thick Irish accent.

Gavin smiled gently down at him, “You’ve been in a rage for the last few days, mate. Do you know what happened?”

The spriggan looked up at him with a slightly dazed expression, “Not, not really. I was just minding my own business and there’s darkness,” He looks around at the gathering of pixies, “and now I’m here, apparently. I didn’t seriously hurt anyone, did I?”

Jeremy glanced over at Zephyr for confirmation before answering with a shake of his head, “Nothing which can’t be fixed.”

The spriggan looked nervous for a moment, looking over at the gathering of pixies, “I’m sorry for any trouble I caused, I’m not sure what came over me…” Zephyr just shook his head at him with a small sad smile on his face; he had lived a long time, he knew when someone was being sincere, and the spriggan was truly sorry.

Michael cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to him, “Well, can we help you get home or something, dude? You could have gotten a decent distance in that rage.”

As though suddenly realising he was in a completely new environment the spriggan looked around in surprise, “Oh, where uh, where are we?”

“Just outside of Austin, to the north.” Michael offered, hoping the spriggan hadn’t managed to travel too far from his home.

“That’s uh, huh…” The spriggan seemed to take a moment to think, looking around at the crown of faces. “That’s pretty far, I live about ten miles _south_ of the city… How did I get over here?” He seemed to be becoming more concerned by the second so Jeremy decided to jump in in the hopes of calming the creature.

“I’m sure we could take you back to your home, it shouldn’t take too long driving.” He looked to Michael who gave him a nod of approval. “Come on, if everything’s fine here we can get you back now?”

The spriggan seemed grateful for the assistance, still a bit shaky from spending so long in a rage. Michael exchanged a few words with Zephyr, promising to come and check on them again in a few days to make sure everything was still alright, before ushering their small group in the direction of where they had parked the car.

Jeremy offered to carry their new friend who seemed a little off balance and drowsy, ending up with an armful of tired spriggan as they made their way back through the brush. The little group exchanged introductions, the spriggan telling them that his name was Sep and being pretty happy at knowing the names of those who had helped him.

The journey back to Sep’s forest was quiet, with both Gavin and Sep himself being pretty tired from the events of the morning. Gavin managed to fall asleep leaning against one of the back doors, whilst Sep fought off the urge for a little while longer to give Michael directions to his home.

Once they arrived Jeremy and Michael walked Sep back to his home within the forest, making sure the tired forest spirit made it back safely.

Michael smiled down at the little tree-man, “If you want we can come back and check on you in a few days, make sure nothing weird like this happens again?”

Sep smiled up at the changeling gratefully, “I’d appreciate it, I really don’t have a clue what happened to make me fly off the handle like that but I’d like to avoid it happening again if possible.”

“That’s fine, we’ll see you soon then. Until then get some rest okay?” The spriggan nodded gently, turning to enter his home before they had even moved out of his eye line.

They took the walk back slowly, happy for a moment to breath after the drama of the last couple of hours. Approaching the car, it was possible to see the top of Gavin’s head where he leant against the door in his sleep, “Is he going to be okay?” Jeremy asked warily.

Michael grimaced slightly before answering, “He’ll be fine, he’s just not really used to the whole psychic power thing yet. It wears him out.” He looked over at where his friend was sleeping with a sigh. “Those powers only developed after everything happened with that coven a while ago. Apparently some vampires naturally develop new stuff later on in their lives and others need a bit of a traumatic push in the right direction.” Michael chuckled darkly, “No surprise Gavin needed a push to do something, lazy fucker.”

Jeremy was nodding away to Michael’s explanation when something occurred to him, “Wait, how old is Gavin?”

Michael laughed again at his question, although Jeremy was happy to note that this time it seemed more authentic. “Ha, the little shit is old as fuck! I’m not sure the exact number of years but he always says about how he was turned during the great plague in London, and I know that was a fucking long time ago.”

Jeremy was floored slightly, he was expecting maybe a hundred years from the way the vampire acted, not more than three centuries. “So, how old is Geoff then? And Ryan? Geoff said he was immortal.”

“Well Geoff’s actually pretty young, he was turned in the first world war. Ryan is a bit more difficult to pin down but he thinks he’s about one hundred and seventy, about that.”

Jeremy wasn’t sure how to take this information, settling for a very succinct “Huh.”

“I know dude, living with immortals takes some getting used to. You pick up weird habits when you’ve been alive for more than a century.” Michael frowned down at his phone, checking the time. “We should get back.”

Jeremy nodded, “Sure, let’s go.”

 

\-------------------

 

Getting back to the house came with two tasks, explaining the odd goings on they’d encountered today and waking up Gavin to get him inside. Michael jumped to perform the first, leaving Jeremy with a backseat full of sleeping vampire to contend with.

After a few minutes of attempting to wake the man Jeremy was starting to see why Michael had been so keen to avoid the task, he simply wasn’t responding at all. In the end he gave up and simply scooped the skinny man into his arms, knocking the car door shut with his foot and carrying him into the house.

It was sod’s law that as soon as he settled the man down on one of the couches in the living room Gavin’s eyes fluttered open to what must have been a somewhat surprising close up of Jeremy’s face.

The vampire flailed on the sofa, almost falling off if Jeremy hadn’t caught him, righting him back into his previous position with his cheeks burning from being caught that close to the other man. He purposefully took a large step back before looking up to meet Gavin’s sleepy gaze.

“Jeremy? What are you doing?” Jeremy was happy to hear that Gavin seemed confused rather than angry.

“I uh, you fell asleep in the car, I couldn’t wake you up so I just carried you in.” Jeremy stuttered, still blushing at the memory of hazel eyes so close to his own.

Gavin smiled softly at the younger man, “Oh, that’s lovely, Lil’ J, thanks.” His smile morphed into a smirk and Jeremy felt a shiver of something unknown run up his spine. “I’m so glad there was a nice, _strong_ werewolf around to carry me.”

Jeremy’s blush multiplied on his face, spreading down his neck as he began to stutter, “Can I, uh, can I get you anything, Gav- Gavin?”

“Gav’s fine, Lil’ J. And if you could be a love and grab me a bottle of blood and a packet of crisps that would be great, thank you.” Gavin’s smirk had settled into something warmer now, the edge slipping away to show a softer side to the vampire.

“Sure, I’ll go get them for you.” He turned to leave, just catching sight of sleepy eyes watching him as he did, a murmur of thanks following him as he made his way to the kitchen.

He was glad to see Michael and Geoff sat at the breakfast bar, talking about their run-in with the spriggan. Both turned to look at him as he entered quietly, “Uh, blood for Gavin?” He asked, glancing at the three fridges which took up a good portion of the far wall.

Geoff chuckled as he slipped out of his seat and made his way to the third fridge. He reached in, drawing out an opaque bottle identical to the one he’d seen Gavin drinking from the previous night and twisting the cap off to put it in the microwave for thirty seconds. “He’s a fussy shit, only drinks it warm.”

Jeremy nodded, noting the location of the blood before looking around lost again. “Chips?”

Michael pointed, “Top cupboard on the right.” As Jeremy was making his way to the cupboard Michael spoke up, “Glad he’s finally back on solids, if I had to deal with his moody ass for one more day I’d probably strangle him myself.” He glared grumpily down into the cup of coffee in front of him as he finished, as though that would stop Gavin being a pain in his ass.

Geoff laughed from where he was replacing the cap on the now warm blood-bottle, “Dude, he’s always been a moody ass, it’s just gotten worse recently.” He passed the bottle to Jeremy as he made his way back towards the door, “So he’s already got you running around for him, eh? Normally takes at least a few days before people get all subservient to him.”

Jeremy huffed as he reached the door, arms laden with the blood-bottle and two packets of chips, one each, “I’m not subservient, I’m just helping him out since he’s not feeling great.”

“Sure dude, whatever. You just let your boss know that I’m making lunch soon, it’ll be about twenty minutes if you two want to join us.” Geoff grinned evilly, “You know, if you’re not too busy sucking each other’s dicks?”

Jeremy left the kitchen with the sound of cackling ringing in his ears, making his way back to Gavin with his haul.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've got a bit more of an insight into Gavin's powers and maybe the start of a bit of a crush going on :)  
> Also, I've been kind of picturing the spriggan in 'monster mode' as something like a cross between a spriggan from skyrim and the faun from pan's labyrinth, so yeah, that's what they were fighting.  
> Also also, we'll definitely be seeing more of Dove in one form or another because I love her and she's adorable (in my head, there's really not that much about her in the story yet...)  
> Anyway, I'll stop rambling, next chapter is already written so it'll be up next sunday as usual. I've managed to fall behind a chapter or so on my writing though so I need to put my head down and get some done (I got distracted writing 7000 words of AHOT6 smut, although I do love it :P )


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is up! Enjoy guys :)

As they found out, Jeremy actually fit in with the group pretty well. He got along with everyone, happy to hang out with whoever was free.

Despite this, almost two weeks in he still hadn’t done anything work-related with Ryan, simply because of the type of work the two were doing. Ryan was busy at the moment, piecing together the cause of a string of odd behaviours across Austin’s supernatural community. It had started with the spriggan they had had to calm down two weeks earlier and had only spiralled out of control from there.

It seemed like any creature which could go into a rage, did. And added to that, there had been a lot of strange ghost activity, with a bunch of spirits hanging around after death despite there being no logical reason for them not to be at peace.

Jeremy had found himself thrown into the metaphorical deep end, going out to deal with these odd behaviours at least twice a day on top of the unit’s usual work-load. He currently found himself with Geoff on the hunt for a pair of satyr who had reportedly been fighting for almost a week now.

“So this isn’t normal satyr behaviour then?” Jeremy asked quietly as they continued to make their way through the brush, pushing branches out of his face as he followed behind his boss.

Geoff guffawed, “It’s normal behaviour for up to two or three days. They usually get a bit riled up when there’s a potential mate around then sort it out between themselves pretty quickly. Actually, usually some nymph knocks some sense into them before they even start fighting properly, those girls can hit hard.” He rubbed at his cheek in phantom remembered pain.

Jeremy laughed at the vampire, “So you’ve had a run in yourself, Geoff?”

Geoff just frowned at him before flipping him the middle finger and carrying on through the trees. “It’s strange for them to keep fighting this long, and dangerous too. They could be in real danger if they don’t take the time to eat or deal with any injuries.”

The sound of a conflict up ahead drew their conversation to a close, both of them dropping low as they approached where the two satyr were squaring off, circling each other whilst tossing insults back and forth. The two were so focused on each other that they didn’t even notice the vampire and werewolf approaching; Geoff motioned for Jeremy to move to one side of the clearing as he made his way to the other.

The two Hunter’s sat in wait as the goat-men continued to circle each other, getting ready to charge. From where he was crouched in the bushes Jeremy could see the damage done to the nearest satyr; cuts ran up and down his torso, one particularly deep wound in his right shoulder, and he seemed malnourished.

As Geoff slipped into his own position he held up a hand to get Jeremy to wait. The werewolf paused, muscles coiled and ready to leap when he was needed. The satyrs walked into grabbing distance of the two of them and Geoff dropped his hand.

There was a moment of frantic action where Jeremy leapt from the bush and wrapped both his arms around the satyr form behind. He held on tight as the creature struggled to get away, eventually resulting in Jeremy twisting him into a headlock whilst simultaneously trying to avoid his flailing hooves.

Jeremy could hear Geoff shouting from where he held the other satyr “Alright, dick-brains! You need to sort your shit out because I’m not willing to deal with two dead satyrs fighting over a girl who’s already fucked off!” The words seemed to snap something into place in the satyr’s head as he suddenly stopped struggling and looked up at Jeremy in surprise.

“What the fuck just happened?!” Jeremy released the man as he seemed to come back to his senses, looking over to see Geoff doing the same. Both satyrs seemed dazed as they looked around them.

“You two numbskulls have been fighting each other for almost a week, I’m surprised you didn’t drop dead from exhaustion.” Geoff explained as the group of four came together in the centre of the clearing. “Do you remember anything? Anything weird happen before you started fighting?”

The satyr Geoff had been holding thought hard before responding. “I remember that there was a couple of dryads in the area, we started display-fighting as usual, then there was this flash and darkness. The next thing I remember is you grabbing me…”

“Are you two going to be okay now? Not feeling the urge to gouge each other?” Jeremy piped up, glancing at the two’s injuries, “If you need medical attention we can help you out?”

The two satyrs chuckled, one tossing an arm over the other’s shoulders, “Nah, we’ll be fine, we’re buddies really.”

The other grinned at Jeremy, “Yeah, we’ve got this, and we can fix ourselves up, but thanks for the offer. If that’s all, I think we’re due a couple of long naps?”

Geoff nodded, glad that this job had been fairly simple, “Yeah, that’s all, just let us know if something weird like this happens again, okay guys?”

“No problem, dude.” One of the satyrs saluted jauntily before guiding his friend back through the trees, presumably towards their home.

Geoff sighed in relief, rubbing at an ache in his side, “Well that was suspiciously easy, let’s get back to the house before something fucking terrible happens.”

Jeremy laughed, “Sounds like a plan, bossman.”

 

\-------------------

 

Ryan’s day hadn’t been going well.

His investigation into what was causing everyone to act so weird recently didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Or more specifically it was going to too many places.

He’d found at least six different creatures which could potentially cause similar effects in those around him, as well as a countless number of spells which could be cast by anything from mages like himself to demons.

Gavin wasn’t really helping either.

“So Ry-bread, you get a million dollars, but every morning Jack full-on punches you in the face.”

Ryan sighed, “Gav, I’m kind of doing something here.”

“You’re thinking too hard, come on.” He grinned at the immortal, jabbing him in the side, “So would you do it?”

He obviously wasn’t getting out of this… “Could I spend the million dollars on a giant-proof helmet?”

Gavin laughed, happy Ryan was playing along, “Sure you can, but you need to be able to get it on before he punches you.”

“What if I just get it built in under my skull, and then-” Ryan was cut off by the rather loud arrival of their boss, Jeremy trailing behind after him.

“What do you fucknuggets want for lunch, me and Jack are doing a burger run?” The vampire demanded as he entered the room, pointing a finger at where Gavin and Ryan were gathered around a table.

Ryan spoke first “Uh, cheeseburger please, Geoff.”

“Geoffrey, may I please have a cheeseburger too, Geoff?” Gavin grinned up at his fellow vampire and it seemed that Geoff couldn’t help but smile back. It had been a relief for everyone when Gavin started eating real food again, the man suddenly full of energy in a way he hadn’t been in weeks.

“No problem guys, we’ll be back in a bit.” Geoff headed to grab Jack, leaving Jeremy to shift closer to the two men still in the room.

He peeked over Ryan’s shoulder as he passed him on the way to another chair, “So how’s it going? You find out what could be causing this shit yet?”

Ryan sighed, he seemed to have been doing that a lot recently, “There’s a bunch of options, we need to narrow it down.”

Jeremy nodded, settling himself at the table before glancing over the files before them, “So what seems most likely right now?”

Ryan rifled through the files, putting a few to the side as he found them. Pushing everything else to one side he lay out the selected few in front of them and flicked the open.

“It could be a demon or a djinn, just being dicks like they tend to be.” He pointed out two files which were side-by-side. “Or any of the other eighteen thousand trickster spirits or creatures which could be floating around.” He tapped a stack of folders, presumably holding information on any trickster spirits he could find. “The real problem pops up if magic is involved, there are so many spells it could be and there’s not really any easy way to track its origin…” Again he pointed out a pile of folders, the writing inside recognisably Ryan’s hurried scrawl, crisscrossed with bright yellow highlighter.

Jeremy nodded along, “Well let’s try to narrow it down, starting with the tricksters.”

Gavin drew the pile towards himself, flicking through slowly as the others watched. “The thing is…” He paused, still reading as he spoke. “The thing is, most tricksters aren’t malicious, they don’t aim to hurt people, just mess with them. So most of these are probably not our mystery creature.”

That made sense to Ryan, most tricksters were more the move your stuff around or make you forget where you parked your car types, not the sorts to start rampages and fights. “That makes sense, let’s split this pile,” He took the files from Gavin with a smile, “and take a third each, find the ones which _are_ malicious and take out all the others.”

So they got to work, quietly talking about nothing as they made their way through the pile, reading each description before placing it in one of the two new piles. Once they were done the possible suspect list seemed much easier to handle, Ryan smiling down happily at their hard work.

The sound of the front door slamming brought them back to reality, Geoff shouting through the house about how they were back and to get out before he just ate it himself.

With shared looks the three made their way out to the kitchen.

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy had been born a werewolf, he was raised by werewolves and almost every member of his family was a werewolf.

He knew what the early signs of the change were; as the full moon snuck closer day-by-day he could feel the itchiness under his skin, the excess of energy and the need to _move_ growing gradually.

But because he knew so much about ‘wolves he also knew how to control himself. He knew that when he turned he wouldn’t fly out of control like some changed ‘wolves did.

The giant wolf form which he took about once a month would hang around for maybe a couple of days, until the full moon had fully passed, then he would shift back, sleep for a bit, and be back to his usual self like nothing happened.

With the full moon approaching for the first time since he moved to Austin, he understood the others asking questions. Not all ‘wolves had been raised to have control like him so it was a very real risk to the others having him in the house when he changed.

But he told them that he’d be fine and they relaxed, Gavin even going so far as to be excited about the arrival of Jeremy’s furry counterpart. And if he was being honest with himself, the opportunity to curl up near his new potential pack had his inner wolf grumbling happily just on the edge of his consciousness.

With just a day to go before his change, Jeremy found himself in a cleared-out space in the garden, ready to spar with Jack.

The half-giant towered over him, topping him by at least two and a half foot as they prepared for their faux fight. Jeremy bounced on his heels, his skin crawling with energy which he just wanted to get out.

To one side Michael raised his hand for their attention, “I want a clean fight guys, no dick shots or going for the throat, Jeremy no teeth and claws.” Jeremy nodded his agreement as the changeling set him with an expectant look. “Okay then guys, three, two, one, FIGHT!”

Michael jumped out of the way, moving to stand by where Gavin was watching the goings on. The two combatants charged towards each other, Jeremy going low and catching Jack around the waist. The two tussled for a moment, strength pushing against strength until one gave in. Jack managed a step forwards and that was all it took for Jeremy to lose his footing.

Suddenly he was moving against his will, feet off the floor as the half-giant grabbed him and tossed him a short distance away. The werewolf popped back up no worse for wear, snarling playfully as Jack turned to face him.

A shout from the side-lines dragged his attention away for a second, “Lil’ J, claws!” Gavin’s words had him glancing down at his hands where his claws had started to peek through. A moment of concentration had them receding back into his fingertips but that moment cost him.

When he looked back up again Jack was almost to him, fist pulled back ready to punch, and punch hard. In a moment of panic Jeremy did the only thing he could think of; he jumped straight up just as the fist was flying towards him, landing gracefully in a crouch on Jack’s outstretched arm and cracking a shocked smirk at the half-giant.

Jack looked at him in surprise, eyes wide, before dropping him as he let out loud guffaws of laughter.

“Oh my god, Jeremy! That was- I just- What even was that?!” His opponent’s laughter was infectious, Jeremy soon finding himself laughing along with both the other man and their small audience.

Gavin staggered over, clutching his sides and laughing like a madman, “Lil’ J, those werewolf reflexes are, uh, really impressive. Maybe you could just surprise your enemies to beat them?”

“Or make them laugh themselves to death?” Michael guffawed, bringing an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders and jostling the man gently, “Good work though, Lil’ J, it takes a hell of a man to bring a half-giant to his knees, even if your method _was_ a little unconventional.”

Jeremy accepted the praise, and the firm handshake Jack offered him, humbly. He knew he was blushing a light pink with the attention but chose to ignore it, instead basking in the time spent with his new friends.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, after an impromptu tussle had broken out between Michael and Gavin, that Jeremy had the sudden feeling of eyes on him. He whipped his head around, staring into the trees which ringed their backyard in the hopes of spotting whoever was spying on them. For a moment he though he saw a shadow, but the shifting light of the setting sun and the branches of the trees made it impossible to make anything concrete out. And then whatever may or may not have been there was gone.

Dismissing the feeling as probably just the transformation prickling at him again, Jeremy turned back to watch Michael wrap Gavin in an armlock, the vampire stubbornly refusing to tap out and instead waving his middle finger in front of the changeling’s face.

Jack sighed and shook his head, sharing a look with Jeremy who just laughed and scratched at his arm.

 

\-------------------

 

The day of the change Jeremy was always extra antsy. He incessantly paced around the room Ryan was working in until the man told him to leave because he was too distracting, at which point he moved to walking up and down the entryway of the house. He’d been at it for so long that Matt and Trevor had made a game of trying to hit him with Cheetos whenever he walked past their office door.

Gavin and Geoff returned to a grouchy werewolf stalking up and down the hallway, his posture already beginning to sink in preparation for the transformation which would occur in a few hours.

“Jeremy, you alright, mate?” Gavin’s concerned tone was just enough to cut through the fog of an incoming transformation, Jeremy’s head snapping up to watch the two approaching vampires. He could practically feel his wolf curling away from the others, obviously not sure how to deal with vampires after never encountering them before.

He broke out of his thoughts when Geoff snapped his fingers gently in an attempt to catch his attention, “Dude, you okay? You’re looking a little… prowly?”

Jeremy forced himself to nod, the motion already beginning to feel unnatural as the wolf slowly took over his thoughts. “I’m good, it’s just hard to- to-” He couldn’t bring his sentence together properly, his mind stumbling as he reached for the word he wanted.

Geoff gave him an understanding look, “Don’t worry, Buddy, we get it.”

Gavin was smiling softly at him, something almost sad in his eyes, “Yeah, we’ve got you covered, Lil’ J.”

“I, thanks guys.” Jeremy mumbled, his voice almost a growl it was so low. “When I change just…” He stumbled again but barrelled through, needing to make sure the others understood. “Just keep away from him, let him come to you. Everything is new for him. He’s scared, I can feel it. Don’t force him to be friends.”

The vampires seemed to understand, both with uncharacteristically serious expressions on their faces as they listened to his instructions.

“I could be gone for a few days but he should be okay in the house. Let him go at his speed and you will be friends soon.” Jeremy grinned at getting his information across to the two vampires, practically feeling the effects of the change already dragging him down as he spoke. “Do you think I could be in one of the cells for the change? I don’t want to risk him biting.” Jeremy was loath to ask but the last thing he wanted was for someone to get hurt because of him.

Geoff seemed a little surprised by the request but smile genially, “If that’s what you want, of course. There’s no one down there at the moment so you won’t have to worry about being disturbed, and one of us can stay with you so we can let you out once he’s calmed down.”

It sounded like a good plan, leaving Jeremy nodding gently and fidgeting with his hands, “Okay, not long now, hour or so at the most.”

“Alright, Lil’ J, just give us a shout when you’re ready.” The soft words from Gavin made his wolf rumble softly, finally seeming to recognise one of their new pack mates.

With a soft pat on the back the two left Jeremy to his pacing until he was ready to make his way down to the cells.

 

\-------------------

 

Geoff had locked the cell behind him and now Jeremy found himself in what felt like a large plastic box with small built in vents in the tops of the walls and a large bed attached to the ground. He plopped himself on the bed with a sigh, scratching up and down his arms insistently as he bounced his leg to try and relieve some of the energy running through him.

Gavin had been left to watch over him, because according to Geoff he was “just taking up space like a shit, large-nosed statue” upstairs, and would be much more useful on ‘wolf-watch. At the moment he was perched on a long bench which ran along one of the walls of the room housing Jeremy’s temporary plastic home, humming quietly as he waited for Jeremy to get comfortable.

“Sure this will hold?” Jeremy asked roughly, his ability to form complete sentences still slipping away further and further as the wolf snuck closer to the surface.

“Huh?” Gavin glanced up, “Absolutely, Lil’ J! They were built to hold giants and trolls so they shouldn’t have a problem holding you.” The vampire was smiling but Jeremy couldn’t help but notice that hint of melancholy in his voice from before once again.

“What wrong?” He asked, trying his best to push emotion into his words, even if his shifting canines made it difficult. At Gavin’s confused expression he clarified “Why sad?”

“Oh.” Gavin whispered, something coming over him for a moment, “It’s a long story Lil’ J, we probably don’t have time right now. Remind me, when you’re feeling better, to tell you the story about the pack I used to live with. It’s all in there.” That only seemed to raise more questions for the werewolf but a sudden pain in his jaw made him recoil before he could speak.

“Is it happening? Are you changing?” Jeremy managed to nod through the pain, slumping backwards onto the thin mattress in a futile attempt to relax the pain away.

Through the fog which filled his mind Jeremy heard footsteps on the stairs and a quiet exchange of voices before the sound of cracking bones filled the air and darkness descended over his vision.

 

\-------------------

 

Ryan had come downstairs to give Gavin the blood bottle he’d forgotten to drink earlier in the day, but on finding Jeremy mid-transformation he joined the vampire in his vigil, watching as Jeremy’s body twisted into unnatural shapes, fur sprouting along his body accompanied by involuntary cries of pain.

He stayed mostly out of concern for his new friend, but he had to admit that a small amount of dark fascination played a role in his remaining. He’d never seen a werewolf transform before and watching Jeremy now he realised that no written description could truly make someone understand the horror of watching someone you cared for go through this.

Gavin stood at his side, seeming fairly unmoved by what he was witnessing. And that just added further to the enigma of the vampire; for having known him for so long Ryan had very little idea what was going through the man’s mind for him to seem so calm over something which seemed so extreme to Ryan himself. The immortal theorised that he must have experienced this before, many times, for him to be so unaffected.

Ryan’s attention was dragged back to the werewolf before them as a loud snarl snapped through the room, causing the mage to jump slightly. Before him stood a large, very agitated looking, wolf. Dark, shaggy fur covered its body and dull brown eyes stared out at the two of them, boring into them before a loud growl rolled through the room raising goosebumps on Ryan’s skin.

Between one blink and the next the wolf was charging at them, bouncing off the clear plastic with a roar and circling back to pace the perimeter of its cage, snarling whenever it made eye contact with its observers.

“This isn’t right.” Gavin’s voice from beside him caught Ryan off guard, a glance at the vampire confirmed that there was a serious set to his face, underlined with concern. “’Wolves don’t act like this, even around strangers. They never attack first unless they’re being threatened. And we’ve spent enough time around Jeremy that the wolf should recognise us…”

“So what does it mean? Is something wrong with him?” Ryan was watching the wolf wind up for another run at the wall, crashing against it with such force that the immortal took a step back in surprise.

“I don’t know.” Gavin met his eyes, the sounds of snarling in the background only growing louder, “But we need to do something before he hurts himself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, I hear the faint rumbling of plotlines in the distance, they're approaching!
> 
> So if anyone is curious, I kind of see the cells as being a bit like the ones in Torchwood, just bigger and less sewer-y. Hopefully that makes sense.  
> But yes, drama and such, very exciting! Next chapter up next Sunday :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 and shit's going down!  
> Enjoy!

The commotion caused by Jeremy’s transformation had drawn whoever was in the house at the time, the small crowd gathered near the entrance to the basement. With a little effort and a promise to keep everyone notified Geoff managed to clear the stairwell back to the main floor, leaving him with Gavin, Ryan and a very agitated, transformed Jeremy.

The wolf was still pacing, although the onlookers were thankful that most of his howling, which had picked up with the arrival of the crowd, had died down. The wolf now seemed to be settling for growling and angry snarls in their direction to let them know that he was incredibly unhappy with his current situation.

“So what the fuck are we dealing with then?” Geoff requested of the pair, exhaustion and worry obviously weighing down on the vampire. “Why is he freaking out like this?”

Gavin sighed, letting himself drop into one of the chairs left in the basement with a huff, “Whatever it is, it isn’t normal. I’ve never seen a ‘wolf transform like this before, even surrounded by strangers in an unknown location. They don’t lash out, they’re smarter than that.” He flinched as the wolf hurled itself against the wall again, viciously snapping at them as he passed.

“And Jeremy told us he had a good hold on his transformation. It’s almost unheard of for born ‘wolves to lose control once they’re adults.” Unlike the two vampires, Ryan was watching the wolf patrol intently, hoping to see a clue to what had happened to their friend.

“Well he’s definitely lost fucking control now, so what could have caused it?” Geoff flopped into the seat beside Gavin’s, snatching up his cooling blood bottle for a swig before it was snatched away by the older vampire.

Silence reigned over the basement for a moment, only broken by the low barks made by the trapped wolf.

“What if it’s related to all the other weird shit that’s going on?” Ryan inquired gently, knowing that if it was true then it meant bad news for everyone.

Gavin watched him with concern, “We haven’t had any cases of true-humanoid creatures being affected yet, only fringe species’. If that’s it then we could be in trouble, Gents.”

Ryan’s mind was whirring as he attempted to put the pieces together in a way which didn’t leave them with only one option. “I’m afraid that might be our only answer, Gav. Unless something’s wrong with Jeremy or there is a completely different phenomenon on which is _also_ sending people into uncontrollable rages. But that seems unlikely…” He trailed off, not happy to be the bearer of bad news any more than the others were happy to receive it.

“And Jeremy seemed fine leading up to his change, maybe we should just-” Geoff was cut off by the wolf throwing himself against the glass once again, falling to the floor and flipping onto his front with a cross between a growl and a whine. “Shit.”

The three gathered closer to the clear wall separating them from their transformed friend in an attempt to check him for damage, but their movement seemed to just anger the wolf even further as he ran at the barrier with a roar. “We need to do something soon or he could really hurt himself.” Gavin mumbled, keeping his voice down in the hopes that it would prevent further agitation from the wolf.

“Well if it is the same thing which is affecting everyone else then maybe just talking to him would help?” Ryan looked cautiously hopeful as he spoke, “After all, that’s worked with some of the more human-like species, right?”

Geoff hummed thoughtfully, still gazing through the thick glass, “I guess it could. It worked with those satyrs we dealt with before.”

Gavin crouched beside the wall, purposefully leaning as close as he dared to get a proper look at the wolf inside. Bright, brown eyes stared back at him, pearly white fangs bared in a threat. “The real question is how human is his brain right now? Because from where I’m standing he’s seeming pretty bloody animalistic to me.”

Sighing, Ryan hung his head slightly, “I suppose you’re right. Plus, we’ve been talking this whole time and it doesn’t seem to have done anything except make him angrier.” He tossed a helpless look at the trapped wolf. “But how else can we help him?”

Gavin was still scrutinising the creature from as close as possible but looked up at Ryan’s words, “Well I mean, there’s always-”

“Gav, there’s no way in hell I’m sending you in there with an angry werewolf!”

“I’ve dealt with angry ‘wolves before, I’ll be fine.”

“Not like this, you haven’t.” Geoff sighed, refusing to look away from the wolf to make eye contact with Gavin. “Anyway, what do you think it would do to Jeremy if he found out you were seriously injured by his fucking wolf?”

The Brit sighed, standing up to come face-to-face with the other vampire, “If anything happens, I’ll be the one to explain it to Jeremy, and I won’t let him blame himself. This is my decision and it’s completely whoever’s casting this spell’s fault.” Gavin watched his old friend beseechingly, knowing that he couldn’t argue any more if he didn’t want Jeremy to get hurt. “Come on, Geoffrey, this is the only way we’ve got right now.”

Geoff groaned, one hand coming up to rub across his face as he began to plan out how they would do this. “Fuck, dude, I’m way too old for this shit.”

Gavin and Ryan chuckled at his sides, “You’re literally the youngest person in this room right now.” Ryan grinned cheekily over at him, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, but being around you dickheads has really aged me…” Geoff griped once more before forcing himself back into business mode. “Okay, if we’re doing this, you’re not going in alone. You’ll need someone to hold him down whilst you’re doing your shit, so I’m going in with you.”

“Geoff, are you sure?” Gavin gave him a concerned look which Geoff just scoffed at.

“Of course, dude. Anyway, you’re the one who’s going to be next to his head with all those big pointy teeth. I’ll be fine.” He grinned at Gavin’s grimace, reaching over to pat the other man’s shoulder. “And Ryan,”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You’re staying as far away as possible.”

“What? Why? I want to help too!”

Geoff placed a placating hand on the other man’s shoulder, looking into his eyes with a serious look on his face. “I know, but if me or Gav get hurt we’ll probably be back up in a day or two, maximum a week, with barely a scratch. If you get hurt you’ll be healing at human speed, and we need you working at your best to find out what the hell’s going on around here.” Ryan dropped his head in acceptance. “Just promise me you’ll stay out here?”

“Yes, fine, alright. But I’d like you to note that I’m not happy about it.” He looked at his two friends, Gavin shooting him a fangy grin, “Be careful please?”

“When are we ever not careful, Ry-bread?” Gavin winked at him before moving in front of the door, “Are we doing this now?”

“May as well dude, no use standing around with our dicks in our hands.” Geoff sighed, coming to standing beside the Brit, eyes locked on the snarling wolf inside the cell. “We need to move quick. Ryan, make sure the door’s shut behind us, the last thing we need is him getting out.”

“No problem, boss.”

“Okay, let’s do this shit. Gav, go as soon as I open that fucking door, I swear if you hang around I’ll wring your fucking neck.”

“Got it. Let’s do this, gents.” Gavin slipped into position next to the door, ready to move as soon as Geoff inched the door open even slightly.

With a nod Geoff unlocked the door and pushed it open quickly, Gavin sliding through the gap as soon as he was able and meeting the wolf mid-run. The wolf seemed caught off guard slightly by the sudden movement, although he recovered quickly, Gavin soon finding himself with a faceful of gnashing teeth and loud snarls.

He wrapped his arms tight around the wolf’s neck, using every bit of his strength to pull the creature closer to the ground. He could only offer an appreciative gasp as Geoff appeared behind the wolf, pinning it’s back half to the floor and massively reducing the flailing which thee had to try to control.

After a minute or so of struggling he knew that this was as far as he was likely to get the stronger creature, and with two massive front paws and a full set of teeth so close to his face he would rather avoid seeing what would happen when he inevitably tired before the werewolf.

Reaching deep inside his mind was much harder than usual whilst also subduing a large werewolf, but he forced himself to comply, fighting the distractions around him to draw the power out. He knew the exact moment when his eyes began to glow, meeting the angry dark brown pair which were now in front of his.

As he pushed at the werewolf’s mind he felt a familiar calm wash over him, allowing the power to take over.

 

\-------------------

 

Ryan slammed the door shut behind the two vampires, standing back to watch with awe as the three creatures in the cell wrestled for dominance. He sighed in relief as Geoff managed to pin the wolf’s back half, although any relief he felt fled as he watched Gavin struggle to hold the wolf’s head still enough for them to make eye contact.

It took what felt like hours but was probably only a minute or so before Gavin managed to meet dark brown eyes with his own glowing golden. Watching the skinny vampire go limp against the still fighting werewolf’s body was terrifying and he almost screamed a warning to the man before realising that there was no way he would hear him.

Instead he shouted an update to Geoff, “Gavin’s using his powers, see if you can keep the claws away from him!” Geoff grunted with the effort of holding the wolf still, but attempted to claw his way up the furry body to pin the wolf’s front paws down. The creature’s wild bucking threw him off and in less time than it seemed to take Ryan to blink the were a set of wide, deep, claw marks in Gavin’s shoulder.

The vampire didn’t even seem to notice, so intensely focused on finding the root of the spell’s hold in Jeremy’s wolf’s mind. And, Ryan had to admit, he had been doubting him slightly because of the wolf’s still wild movements, but barely a moment later the creature seemed to go stiff, before collapsing into an exhausted pile of fur and claws.

Geoff grumbled from where he’d been tossed at the wall by the creature’s thrashing, standing up to go and check on the other vampire across the room. Gavin lay where he’d fallen, one hand sprawled on the wolf’s neck, fingers buried in thick fur.

Geoff nudged Gavin’s side with his foot, “Hey dude, you alive?”

“Bugger off, Geoffrey, we’re having a moment.” He flapped his free hand at Geoff’s leg in an attempt to push him away, rolling over to bury his face in the wolf’s fur, receiving an amused huff from the creature.

 

\-------------------

 

Jack fussed under his breath as he cleaned out the wound in Gavin’s shoulder. Three deep gouges ran all the way around the joint, ringed by the angry red of healing skin. “I’m going to leave these uncovered since you’ll probably be healed up in a couple days, but if you do any stupid shit to damage it more don’t come crying to me.”

Gavin grinned down at the half-giant from his perch on the breakfast bar, “No problem Jack, anything else I need to know?”

Huffing in a mix of irritation and amusement, Jack stepped away after checking his handiwork, “I don’t think so, you should be fine.”

“Great, cheers Jack!” Gavin hopped off the counter with a slight stumble, a hand shooting out to steady himself only to find that he was held up by Jack on one side and the wolf on the other. “Thanks guys, I’m okay.” He shooed the two back so he could balance himself once again, but as he began to make his way into the lounge he noticed a heavy, warm weight against the side of his leg.

Jack chuckled from behind him, “So what’s with the shadow act? It’s a uh, a little different from how he was earlier.”

Gavin let himself flop into one of the armchairs scattered around the room before answering, ending up with a large, furry head resting on his lap. He took to stroking between the wolf’s ears as he answered, “He knows that I helped him break whatever spell was on him earlier, and that I got hurt because of it. He’s basically just trying to make up for it by helping me out.” He smiled at the answering whine he received.

Ryan laughed from the other side of the room, “So it’s not just because you’re his favourite?”

“Well, I am, because I’m top; but it’s mostly the thing I said before. Once he’s sure I’m okay he’ll start spending time with everyone else too, he’ll probably hang around Geoff and Lindsay a lot, since they’re kind of the ‘alphas’ of the pack and he’ll want to make a good impression.” Gavin let himself relax completely, the weariness which had been tugging at him since he brought Jeremy’s wolf back rolling over him in waves.

“Gav, maybe you should go and have a nap?” Jack suggested gently, concerned with the vampire’s obvious exhaustion.

Gavin gave a quiet laugh, “Nah, if I sleep now I’ll be up all night. But if you guys have any more werewolf questions feel free to ask, it’s helping me stay awake.” He grinned at the other two in the room, only receiving answering eye rolls and grumbles in return.

Ryan held his hand up with a sheepish smile, “Uh, I have a question.” He continued at Gavin’s nod, “How come you know so much about werewolves?”

“Ah, well I kind of promised I’d tell Jeremy first, but let’s just say I spent a lot of time with a pack back in London after I turned.” Gavin explained, rubbing a hand down the back of the wolf’s head. “For a while I actually knew a lot more about werewolves than vampires, it was a very odd time in my life.” He chuckled at the memory before looking expectantly at the others.

“Okay, how about telling us how the whole transformation thing works then? Like, is that Jeremy in wolf form or someone else entirely?” Jack nodded towards the drowsy wold attempting to sprawl itself across Gavin’s skinny frame.

“Basically, there’s the werewolf and the wolf. They’re separate, but they do share some thoughts and such. Basically, Jeremy’s in control anytime except at the full moon, when this guy takes over.” He petted the wolf resulting in a sleepy whine, “And Jeremy will probably be able to vaguely remember what’s happened whilst he’s transformed, but it’ll mostly be key events and stuff, no specifics, ya know?”

“Makes sense, I suppose. From what Jeremy’s told me him and the wolf seem to be on pretty good terms.” Ryan added from his own seat on the other side of the room.

“Most born ‘wolves do, it comes with practice. It’s why I knew something had to be wrong when he went mental after he transformed.”

Talking from the hallway drew their attention away from the conversation, so that when a frazzled-looking Geoff walked into the room, phone pressed against his ear as he spoke quickly and quietly to whoever was on the other end, three heads all turned to watch him. The conversation seemed to end soon after, Geoff hanging up and turning to look at the room at large.

“I know it’s late, but we just got another call.” He frowned as he took in Gavin’s exhausted expression and the clingy wolf wrapped around his feet. “Jack, Ryan, do you mind going to check it out?”

The other two were already standing up, gathering their things together to leave, “It’s no problem Geoff, just text us over the details once we’re on our way.” It wasn’t long before the two left the room, offering farewells to the remaining occupants.

Gavin pouted up at Geoff, arms crossed and scowl in place even as his eyes fought to stay open, “I could have gone with them Geoffrey, I’m not an invalid.”

“I know Gav, but you are exhausted, and you’re also going to take a nap.” He nudged the skinny vampire up on to his feet before pushing him in the direction of the stairs, the wolf trailing behind him. “Go on, go sleep for a bit and take your fluffy shadow with you. You’re no good to me when you can barely even stand.” Gavin seemed about to argue until Geoff shot him a look which told him there was no getting out of it, “I’ll send someone to wake you up in a bit if you want, just promise me you’ll try to sleep?”

Gavin sighed in defeat, rubbing one hand over tired eyes as he started making his way up to his room, “Fine, but if I’m up all night I’m blaming you.”  

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin couldn’t sleep.

It was sometime in the early hours of the morning, if he cared enough he could roll over to the other side of his bed and check, but at the moment, he was too annoyed at Geoff for making him sleep earlier and at his body for refusing the extra rest.

“This is ridiculous.” He grumbled as he sat up, rubbing tiredness from his eyes with one hand as the other patted across the bedsheets at the bottom of his bed. Eventually his fingers met a soft muzzle, the wolf pressing his nose up into Gavin’s palm in an attempt to placate the agitated vampire. “Come on mate, maybe some fresh air will help, eh?”

Swinging his legs out of bed Gavin pulled a pair of loose sweatpants and a random t-shirt on before getting up to head downstairs, the wolf trotting beside his legs as he went. The house was quiet as he passed through, no sounds of people playing games or chatting, checking the time as he passed through the lounge he wasn’t shocked to find that it was almost four in the morning.

A slight chill came over him as he stepped outside, the wolf pressing closer to help keep him warm. The short walk down the garden to his favourite spot was uneventful, the feeling of cool grass against his bare feet calming him slightly as he went.

He wasn’t expecting to find his bench occupied, but walking around the corner which hid his little hidey hole he spotted another figure already sitting there, staring off into the woods as he hunched slightly, elbows resting on his knees.

Something about the atmosphere of the moment had Gavin deciding not announce his presence, instead just walking up slowly to the figure so as not to surprise them and settling down on the bench. Now that he was closer it was easy to identify Ryan as the man who sat beside him, still in the same clothes he was wearing the day before, and Gavin couldn’t help but huff at the man, “You know, you _are_ still human, you do need to sleep sometime.”

Ryan slanted a look at him from the corner of his eye, laughing bitterly under his breath, “We both know that when you’ve been alive as long as we have, sleep isn’t always your friend.”

“Christ, you’re talking like you’re an ancient old man, Ry. Come on, buck up.” He nudged him in the side, grinning at the slight upturn of the other man’s lips. “There we go. Look, even this guy doesn’t think it’s all that bad, and he was under an evil rage spell less than twenty-four hours ago.” Gavin laughed as the wolf dropped his head heavily onto Ryan’s lap, looking up at him with big eyes until the man couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright, alright, I know. You just have to let me indulge in a bit of melodrama every now and then.” Ryan looked over at Gavin who was grinning back at him already, chuckling at the youthful-looking man.

“Melodrama’s fine, Ry-bread, as long as you remember to let it go after, because Christ knows no one else has a buggering anus of a clue what's going on.” Ryan shot him a confused look for a moment before descending into laughter. “What? What, Ryan, what’s funny?!”

“Nothing, just gavinisms.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know that’s all stuff people say in England!” Gavin scoffed at him, glaring jokingly at him for a few seconds before he descended into giggles.

The two of them managed to gather themselves slightly, Gavin leaning against Ryan’s shoulder where he’d fallen during his laughing fit. “Gav, when was even the last time you were in England?”

“Shut up, Ryan, don’t ruin the moment.”

“Wait. We’re having a moment?” Gavin glanced up at the man, frowning at him when he was met with a cheeky grin.

“You’re a right mong, Ry-bread.” Gavin pouted but didn’t move from his position leant against the mage, soaking in the warmth the other man was exuding. The wolf wrapped himself around their legs and they just sat for a while, staring off into the darkness between the trees before them.

 

\-------------------

 

Ryan assumed he must have drifted off for a while, because he woke up to Gavin spread across one side of him, a crick in his neck and his feet asleep from the weight of a large wolf on them. He nudged the vampire with his elbow in the hopes of waking him up, “Come on Gav, we’ll be better off going inside instead of getting cold out here.”

The Brit mumbled unhappily at him from where his face was buried in Ryan’s shoulder, but he eventually rolled his head to the side to look up at him, “I’d just like it to be noted that I’m not happy about this…”

“Yeah, yeah, well just because you're a terrifying creature of the night it doesn't mean you don't deserve to sleep on a mattress.” Ryan pushed at the warm, furry weight around his ankles, “Come on, you too, up.” He watched as the wolf clambered to his feet, but something seemed off. Fur along the creature’s back was bristling and a weak growl was beginning as he stared at the treeline intently. “Hey, what’s up?”

He didn’t get an answer because the wolf suddenly rocketed off into the woods, leaving the two men behind slightly dazed and very confused.

Gavin jumped to his feet, already taking a few steps towards the trees, “Come on, we need to follow him!”

Ryan didn’t try and argue, simply letting the vampire take the lead, trusting in his slightly better vision to get them through without major injury.

It felt like they had been running for a while when Ryan finally started hearing growling again from somewhere up ahead. After another minute or so of jogging and avoiding branches they came upon the clearing where the wolf currently stood. Dark fur stood on end and loud, rolling, growls filled the area.

The cause of the wolf’s agitation became clear as a figure on the other side of the clearing stepped forwards. Still sheathed in shadow, Ryan couldn’t make out who or what stood in front of him, but if his gasp of surprise was anything to go by Gavin recognised whatever was waiting for them.

The vampire walked forwards until he could press a reassuring hand to the wolf’s neck, eyes still wide in shock as they refused to leave the figure in front of them.

Body trembling in uncertainty he spoke softly, “How are you here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yup, cliffhangers, I'm giving them a shot.  
> I'm coming to the realisation that I've got too much backstory for certain characters (Gavin, basically) and am probably going to have to write a side-fic to get it all out, because I love it, so much. Also, random lore stuff for the universe too, mostly to do with werewolves and vampires, but also fairy courts and demons and I just really love doing research and making up lore guys, I really love it.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think if you want, or don't, it's up to you


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some non-graphic descriptions of death and torture in this chapter!
> 
> Chapter 6 is up finally, sorry for the late upload, I had to head out of town suddenly and didn't get back until Monday. But never mind, it's up now!  
> Enjoy!

“How are you here?”

Gavin stared at the man in front of him in awe, just barely keeping himself from sprinting across the clearing. In fact, the only thing holding him back was the niggling voice of doubt somewhere deep in his mind, there were too many questions left unanswered for him to be willing to blindly follow.

“Gav, what-? Holy shit!” Ryan’s staggered voice from beside him proved to Gavin that he wasn’t going mad, or at least that he wasn’t alone in his madness. “Fucking hell, it’s too early for this.”

Gavin could only nod in agreement as the figure stepped forwards into the dim light which filtered through the trees.

“Uh, hey guys, Vav, Ry, um, large wolf-creature…” Ray grinned sheepishly at the two gobsmacked men, waving slightly before dropping his arm back at his side with a nervous laugh. “So uh, some shit went down.”

Ryan scoffed at him, although a smile fought valiantly for a place on his face. “You don’t say Ray? You’ve been gone for almost nine months! We thought you were dead!”

“I, I saw you get shot.” Gavin stuttered from Ryan’s side, hand now clenched in the wolf’s fur, just for something solid to hold on to.

“Well, that’s the shit I was talking about.” Ray paused for a moment, gathering himself before announcing with open arms, “I’m not exactly alive.”

“You’re a ghost?” Ryan asked quietly, glancing over at Gavin to see the colour drain from his face.

“I, uh, I need a minute.” The vampire mumbled, turning on his heel and stumbling back towards the house, the wolf trotting to keep pace at his side.

“Wait, Gav-!” Ray sighed as he watched the skinny figure leave the clearing without looking back. “Shit.”

Ryan stepped forwards, reaching out a hand to comfort the ghost before drawing away when he realised it would probably do no good. “Let him go for now, Ray. It was tough for him when you died, he felt responsible.” He looked off in the direction the Brit took, almost kidding himself into thinking he could hear retreating footsteps. “He’ll be okay once he’s cooled off.”

“Fuck. Yeah, you’re right Ry. I should uh, talk to him about it I suppose.” There was still a small frown on Ray’s face as he stared off into the distance.

Ryan sighed, before flashing the younger man a smile, “You should, but first I think there are a few things we need to know.” He watched Ray for confirmation until he received a silent nod. “Okay, good, follow me back to the house and we’ll get the others, I feel this is going to be a long story.”

 

\-------------------

 

With dawn approaching as they arrived at the house Ryan didn’t feel so bad about waking everyone up to inform them of the surprising turn the night had taken. He found himself pausing outside Gavin’s door, one hand raised to knock, but just dropped it down and allowed the man some time to absorb what had happened.

It had never been a goal in his life to have to inform a group of grumpy supernaturals about the demise and subsequent ghostification of a friend in the early hours of the morning, but over the years Ryan had accepted that very little had gone the way he had planned as a young man. And a grumpy group was definitely what he got.

Several pairs of angry eyes jumped to him as he walked through the door of the dining room where everyone was gathered, although he chose to just ignored them until he was stood at one end, directly opposite a glaring Geoff. “Ryan, no matter how much I may love you, if you’ve woken me up for no reason I _will_ find a way to murder you. Painfully.”

Ryan just waved off the threat, clearing his throat to begin his explanation. “I understand that you’re all probably a bit upset about being woken up so early,” grumbles wound around the room, Michael holding up his middle finger with a glare, “But I think you’ll agree that it’s for a good reason.”

“Well go on then, fucker, we’re listening.” Jack chimed in from his seat beside Geoff.

“Um, okay, so me and Gavin were out by the forest earlier and we kind of, ran into someone.”

“So someone was near the house, so what? We have neighbours.” Matt asked, his voice sleep-deprived.

“It was less that someone was there and more who it was.” Ryan walked around the table to open one of the kitchen doors, blocking the others' views of their impromptu house guest. "You ready?" The ghost glanced up from his inspection of the familiar room, looking suddenly shocked at the question.

“Uh, yeah, I suppose dude.”

“Okay, come on.”

Ryan ushered him through the door, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes as the Puerto Rican followed behind him, hands deep in his hoodie pocket as he tried not to notice the reactions of the team.

His attempt at ignoring the world around him ended as Michael stepped between him and Ryan’s back, blocking the gent from his view and instead giving him an eyeful of curly hair and furious eyes.

“Where the fuck have you been, Asswipe!?” The changeling was fuming, reaching out to push the younger man away from him only to find a strange almost-resistance as he pressed his palms against his chest. It felt a bit like trying to push through custard, it definitely felt solid but it was off somehow, like Michael should be able to reach right through him. “Shit, you’re…?”

“Oh yeah, dead as a dodo, dude, no coming back from that.” Ray grimaced at his friend and Michael patted him on the shoulder as best he could.

“Well if you’ve been a ghost this whole time then where have you been? Shouldn’t you have been floating around, pissing us off this whole time?” Jack asked, the two younger men realising they were still surrounded by everyone else with a start.

“That’s what I was going to ask once everyone knew what was going on. So what happened, Ray?” Ryan looked at him expectantly, leaning forward with a look which said his science brain was definitely on.

The ghost slipped around Michael with a small smile which promised further talk later, moving to stand beside Ryan at the head of the table. “Okay, so I can only tell you what I can remember, obviously, which isn’t really that much, but I’ll try." A chorus of agreements followed his words.

“I remember the ambush, Gav got shot suddenly out of nowhere and was distracted enough that whoever had us managed to hold him down. They stabbed him with some needle and whilst I was trying to get to him someone jumped out in front of me. I just remember a gun in my face and nothing.” Ray sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, an act which he understood was now useless but still made him feel more comfortable.

“So when I woke up, whenever that was, I was in this dark, cramped place. There were people everywhere and everyone was talking but it was like, really far away and right by my ear at the same time and I couldn't work out what they were saying. Then a couple of days ago, something changed, there was, like, a sliver of light. I followed it and I ended up in some shitty warehouse, then I walked here. The end.” He ended with a flourish to his stunned audience before waiting for some kind of reaction.

“So where were you for all that time, then? And how come you only got out now?” Lindsay was watching him carefully, and although she believed what he was saying she didn’t trust the blanks in his memory not to hide something horrible.

“I uh, I can actually answer that.” Ryan piped up, raising a hand timidly as all eyes in the room turned to him. “So, it could be one of two things. Either Ray was in purgatory and was pulled back by someone, or Ray’s spirit was being held captive by spellcasters, their concentration slipped or something went wrong with the spell and he managed to get out.”

“Which one seems more likely to you, Ry?”

“Well pulling someone back from purgatory takes a lot of magic, but then so does trapping multiple spirits. But I would say he was probably being held captive, from his description it seems to add up.” He looked down for a moment, seeming to run over a few things in his mind before glancing back up at the group gathered before him. “I’ll have to do some research to make sure, and to figure out how he got out.”

Geoff stood, “You feel free to do that, come back to me with what you find.” Ryan nodded, turning to leave with a last smile at Ray. “The rest of you lot, go and get ready for the day, there’s still work to do.”

Once the group had dissipated, some returning to their rooms, some moving into the kitchen, Geoff waved Ray over to him with a frown.

“Ray, you know I trust you, and I never want to think ill of anyone on my team, but I need you to tell me right now if anything seemed off or if you felt like someone was following you on your way back.” He stared at the ghost of his friend, the young man he had sent to his death, desperately hopeful that his return didn’t herald a true risk for everyone else in the house.

Ray purposefully stared right into Geoff’s concerned eyes, noticing that the blue seemed to have become darker since he left. “As far as I know, I wasn’t followed, I didn’t see anyone as I left and I didn’t feel anyone with me when I was walking here.”

“Okay, I believe you Ray.” The two shared a tired smile, some of the tension in Geoff leeching away. “Well if you weren’t followed they might be looking for you, you need to stay inside where they can’t spot you.”

“That uh, that sounds smart, good plan boss.”

Geoff grinned at him, “If you want you could go and help Ryan, I’m sure he be grateful.”

“We both know that Ryan would skin me if I went to 'bother him this early in the research process’.” Ray mimicked the gent’s voice, pulling a chuckle from the vampire. “Anyway, I need to go and speak to Gav first, we need to clear some things up.”

“Oh, that’s uh, probably a good idea. Let the little cocksucker know my door’s open if he wants to talk.”

“Will do, Geoff.” Ray turned to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder through the distant fuzz which served as his nerve-endings now.

“And, Ray, I’m glad as dicks to have you back, dude.”

“Thanks, Geoff.”

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin had his head in his hands when someone knocked on his door, and although he thought he knew who it was and that he really didn't want to talk right now, he still shouted for them to come in, looking up just in time to watch a sheepish Ray slip into his room.

“Hey Vav.”

“Hey X-Ray.” Gavin looked at him for a moment before dropping his eyes back to the floor.

Ray sighed, walking across the room to sit beside the Brit, the wolf at the other man’s feet looking up at his arrival before looking away with a dismissive huff.

“Gavin, look at me. We need to talk about this.”

“What, Ray? What do you want?! What do we need to talk about?” Gavin’s manic expression slipped suddenly, misery and guilt obvious beneath his words.

“Gav, what happened, all that _shit_ , it wasn’t your fault. You can’t keep blame yourself for everything.”

“But you were so young, I should have been able to protect you.” Gavin heaved a breath, “You were just some fucking human kid, Ray! You shouldn’t have even been there!”

“So why don’t you blame _Geoff_ for sending me, or _Ryan_ for letting his apprentice wander into a dangerous situation? Fuck, why don’t you blame _me_ for _wanting_ to be a part of it, for wanting to do something interesting with my life?” Ray rubbed a hand over eyes which felt heavy despite his inability to sleep. “There’s a lot of people you could blame, but instead you’re wallowing. And it’s because you’re a good person, Gav. In any other situation you would have been there; you would have saved me. Christ, you fucking tried, even when you’d been shot, even when they were shooting you up with whatever they gave you, you were trying to get to me!”

Gavin shrunk away from his raised voice instinctively, although the words themselves were like a balm on his heart and mind. Ray gasped for breath he no longer needed after his rant, staring beseechingly at the vampire beside him to accept what he was saying.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll uh, I’ll try. I can’t promise it’ll work, but I’ll try not to blame myself.”

Ray looked at him softly, reaching out to lay a hand on the older man’s shoulder, “That’s all I can ask.”

They sat in silence for a while, comfortable enough around each other to not need to speak to be around each other. But something was bothering Ray he knew the silence would remain cloying as long as he didn't ask.

“What happened? After, I, you know. How did you get back?” He looked over Gavin and watched a blank mask slip over his expression, concern darting through his mind as he saw this transformation happen in his friend. “You don’t have to, uh, tell me if you don’t want to, Gav. It’s fine.”

“No, no it’s okay.” Gavin's voice was almost robotic, a complete change from just a few minutes ago when he sounded like his emotions were overflowing. “I saw you die. It was shocking obviously, and I fought to stay awake but something pulled me under and I passed out.”

“Probably whatever they injected you with.” Ray suggested.

“Probably." The vampire shrugged. "Anyway, I woke up in some warehouse. It was dark and I was alone, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t get away. They had me in silver shackles, and those burned a bit, but everything was overwhelmed by this searing pain in my shoulder.”

He sighed, reaching down to pull his t-shirt off over his head, revealing his chest to the ghost beside him. He knew what the other man saw, old scarred skin and burns all across his chest, but in recent months the eye was always drawn to where a shiny, darker sunburst of colour marred his left shoulder, the skin dipping inwards where it had been unable to grow back quickly enough. The healing claw marks on his right shoulder seemed like nothing in comparison.

“They staked me, not through the heart because they needed me alive, but close enough that I could practically feel it with every heartbeat. They told me later that it was dipped in holy water too, but I never believed in that nonsense. The silver tip though, that was the real kicker.”

“What a bunch of assholes.”

Gavin let out a bark of laughter, “That’s the understatement of the century. So I was staked and chained up, and for about a day they just left me waiting like that. Then these people appeared, magic-radicals spouting stuff about how I was a useful resource and that they were going to make the most of me.”

Ray sat forwards, listening intently to Gavin’s story, “So what did they do?”

“They started, uh, harvesting bits.” Gavin gagged a little, regaining control of himself quickly. “Sorry, it’s just, apparently they had need for a bunch of vampire bits, and since, if they kept me alive, they could just keep chopping stuff off that’s what they did. They started small, fingernails, blood, hair. After a couple of days, they switched to the heavy hitters, an ear, teeth, skin and muscle. Shattering bones so they could extract shards. Cutting out organs.”

Ray watched the other man recede into himself more and more as he spoke, his words dripping like acid from his tongue. “They used this silver knife, it felt like being stabbed with poison ivy then having vinegar poured into the wounds. I guess after a while my body couldn’t take any more. My mind just shut down since I didn’t have the energy or time to heal properly. The next thing I remember is waking up two months later, here.” He gestured around the room.

“Gav, that’s-”

“It’s fine, Ray. I’m fine.” He took a deep breath to gather himself, finally meeting the eye of the ghost beside him. “Geoff told me later that they managed to track me down and get me out of there. But after everything that happened my body had so much healing to do that it just shut down, apparently the others all thought I was dead because I wasn’t breathing. But it’s just how we heal, like a vampire coma.

“Anyway, then I woke up and I was all fine again.” He grinned at Ray but the other man could see cracks in the happy ending Gavin had created already forming.

“Gavin, that’s uh, are you okay?” Ray probed carefully, watching his friend closely.

The Brit glanced up from where he’d been leaning to grab his t-shirt, slipping the grin back on just a second too slowly. “I said I was, X-Ray. Weren’t you listening? Typical.” He tutted at him, moving to stand up but being pulled back by an airy hand on his wrist.

“Look, I know this is hard to talk about. I get it, man, I do. But just promise me that whatever happens you’ll talk to someone if everything starts getting too much? Even I can tell you’ve lost weight, and you were a skinny fucker before.” Gavin’s eyes remained hard, and for a moment Ray figured he was going to be fobbed off with false assurances. But after a few seconds of silence passed something seemed to soften in the vampire, one hand coming up to rub across tired-looking eyes.

“Fine, I promise, Ray. Okay?”

Ray clapped his hands together happily, “Fantastic. Now let me catch you up on what you missed whilst you were moping up here so the boss-man doesn’t tear your head off.” He began to gather his thoughts to give Gavin a run down but was interrupted.

“Ray?” An unobtrusive voice asked from beside him, drawing his eyes back up to meet Gavin’s.

“Yeah, Vav?”

“Thanks.”

"No problem." He patted the vampire on the shoulder before smirking at him, "But if you want to get all sappy with someone I can go get Ryan, I'm sure he'd enjoy it more than me."

"Shut up, Ray."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Ray! Ghost kidnapping plots? Feelings... All this and more on the next episode of Dragonball Z!
> 
> But seriously, sorry for the late/short chapter, I didn't want to force more into it since it felt like a good stopping point.   
> I'm thinking I might take a week off uploads to give myself a chance to get a bit more of a backlog, so next chapter will be on the 6th of November! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! With chapter 7 and everything, I do spoil you guys!  
> Sort of winding up to the last bit of the story soon, I think, although there are definitely going to be side stories for this (if nothing else, I already have a bunch of stuff for Gavin's backstory written down, so that'll be out at some point.)  
> Anyway, enjoy!

Ray had left Gavin to his thoughts after their little talk, but the vampire found that even with Jeremy’s wolf’s presence beside him he needed to be around _someone_  who could talk back after bringing up such bad memories.

He made his way downstairs, feet dragging as he slunk into Geoff’s office and without ceremony dropped on the armchair in the corner. Geoff didn’t look up from the files he was reading, simply acknowledging his arrival with a grunt.

They stayed that way for a while, spending time around someone as familiar as Geoff calming Gavin’s nerves more than he would have expected. He had spent the majority of his long life flitting from one human friend to the next, sometimes returning during their old age (or if he had misjudged, for a funeral.) Rarely did he spend more than a decade with any one person, but here he was after almost a century of near-constant communication with the other man.

“Hey, you ever wonder why we’re still friends?”

Geoff glanced up at him for a second before looking back down at his paper, “Easy. It’s because you’re some fucked-up mix of a vampire and a leech. I can’t get rid of you.”

“Geoff, why are you so mean to me, Geoff?” Gavin moaned, sloping over to the other man’s desk to lie dramatically across the files Geoff was trying to read. “What’s the real reason?”

Sighing, Geoff pushed himself away from his desk, the heels of his hands pressing against his eyes in an attempt to stave off the residual tiredness from his rude awakening that morning. “You want to know the truth, Gav?”

Exhausted blue eyes met flighty hazel, Gavin answering immediately with a sharp nod and a mumbled “Yes.” All of a sudden the atmosphere in the room seemed heavier somehow.

“You remember when we met? Trenches and explosions, shit and mud and rats.” He paused to shudder at the memories. “Well somehow, out of every man there, _you_ were the one I was most worried about. Because I could tell that you were just waiting for the call, waiting to go over the top and run head first into a grenade and end it. Watching you like that, even when I thought you were just some kid in too deep, it fucking sucked. And I can’t let you get like that again, not whilst I’m around to prevent it.”

Gavin had sobered at the explanation, slipping off the desk to stand opposite Geoff’s chair. “Oh.”

“Yeah, so I get that having this coven hanging over your head is pushing you, but the sooner we get rid of them the sooner you can go back to your normal happy-go-idiot self.” Geoff stepped out from behind his desk, coming to stand in front of Gavin and placing his hands on the smaller man’s shoulders. “Look, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here now, it only seems fair that I do the same for you.”

Gavin looked surprised for a moment, “I don’t think you biting me will do much good, to be honest, Geoffers.”

“Oh, shut up you little shit.” Geoff cuffed Gavin around the head before using his grip on the other man’s shoulders to spin him on his heels and push him towards the door. “Now as nice as this chat has been, I have work to do and you’re literally the most distracting person on the planet, so scram.”

Gavin dug his heels in as he was pushed across the thick carpet, the resistance definitely slowing his forced exit. “But Geoff,” He whined, “I thought you loved me!”

“Oh, I do Gav, just not when you’re in my office bothering me.” With a final shove Gavin spilled out into the hallway, spluttering in feigned aggravation. “Remember Gavvers, if you need to talk, I’m always here. But if what you want to talk about is nonsense and you waste my time I _will_ water down all your blood bottles.”

Gavin snapped into a sloppy approximation of a salute, Geoff shaking his head at him as he shut the door in his face. Despite Geoff's best efforts Gavin still managed to catch the early signs of a smile on his old friend’s face before his sight was blocked by the thick, painted wood.

With his previous form of entertainment blocked from him he decided to go in search of someone else to bother. He meandered down the hallway, hands deep in his jeans pockets as he went. He stuck his head through the B-team’s door only to find it half empty and completely silent, only Matt and Lindsay there working away.

The large furry mass beside Lindsay’s feet raised its head at his arrival, the wolf standing up with a yawn and a stretch before trotting over to Gavin’s side.

“Oh, I see how it is, you just use me until your favourite comes back and then it’s sayonara to me.” Lindsay joked as she spun in her seat to watch them, Gavin kneeling to give the large animal a proper pet to the head.

“It’s just the way of life Lindsay, I’m just more loveable than you.” Gavin smirked smugly over at the phoenix only to receive a light smack from a large paw. “Oi! Don’t you start acting up!”

Lindsay’s laugh pierces the silence, but Gavin still feels like his presence is disrupting something. With a wave he turns to head back to the hallway, leaving the two to their work.

“Hey, maybe Ryan’s still around somewhere? Shall we go look for him?” He grins down at the wolf when he nudges his nose into the back of Gavin’s knees, pushing him forward slightly. “I’ll take that as a yes, let’s go then.”

 

\-------------------

 

As much as Ryan loved having Ray back he was finding it difficult to feel that love whilst the Puerto Rican ghost did a good job of appearing in front of him whenever he was trying to work. He’d finally just given up and settled himself at the desk in his research room when the door swung open and released an overenergetic vampire and his furry companion upon him.

“Ry! What are you doing?” Gavin slumped into the seat opposite him, a sly grin across his face which told Ryan that he knew exactly how annoying he was being right now.

“I’m trying to figure out how our ghostly friend got back here without anyone noticing, and why we haven’t had a hoard of witches descend on us yet, considering they’d have to be pretty fucking stupid to not work out where he’d go…” Ryan mumbled, refusing to look up from his book again, and _dammit_ he was going to get through this page this time!

Gavin chuckled from his seat, the already familiar rustling of him reaching down to pet the wolf reaching Ryan’s ears. “Sounds interesting, anything I can do to help?”

“Well, I mean, if you can speak old English at all that would be a great help. Apparently your ancestors knew a bunch of stuff about trapping spirits but never bothered to translate it at all.” Ryan glanced over at the stack of printed papers and books he’d pushed to one side in frustration.

Gavin reached out to pull one of the books towards him, “I’ll try my best, I’m not exactly fluent though.”

Ryan blinked at the sandy-haired man, “Are you serious, do you really speak old English?”

“A bit, I learnt German first, then when I was looking through a few history books and couldn’t read a bunch of it I kind of started to work it out. Did you know they’re actually not that far off each other, at least grammar-wise?”

The vampire was working away and Ryan didn’t want to break whatever spell had fallen over him so he just grunted in agreement and got back to his own work.

Or he would have if not for the friendly ghost who had, until now, remained quiet in the corner. “So what does it say, Vav?”

Gavin almost leapt out of his seat at the sudden appearance over his shoulder, the wolf beside him growling in something resembling a lazy threat but still refusing to stand up to back himself or Gavin up physically.

“Holy _shit_ , X-Ray! Are you trying to make me dead like you, because you’re going to give me a bloody heart attack if you keep carrying on like that!” Gavin had one hand clutched to his chest, the other held out in front of him to defend himself from the perceived threat.

Ray cocked his head to one side, unruffled by his friend’s massive over-reaction. “Can vampire’s even have heart attacks?”

“I don’t bloody know, do I? It’s not like I went to vampire school.” Gavin was settling himself back into his chair, scowling at Ray as he went.

“Ah, fair. Well anyway,” Ray leaned over Gavin’s shoulder to look at the foreign words sprawled across the page, “What does it say?”

Gavin turned away from him to scan the page once more, jabbing a finger into a particular paragraph excitedly, “Found it! So it’s only a basic run down but this says a bit about how to break a spirit containment spell.”

Ryan glanced up from where he had definitely been ignoring the pair and not listening in at all at Gavin’s words, “Sounds promising, how does it work?”

“Well, basically, if a spirit is strong enough they can break out on their own, but that’s only in extreme cases, like ancients and stuff.” Ryan nodded along, writing down notes as Gavin spoke. “But, if there’s a dip in power output from the caster, or if there are too many spirits being held within the spell then sometimes the strongest spirits will slip out without the caster even knowing.”

“Wait, do you actually think I would have been one of the strongest spirits held by that spell?” Ray questioned, eying the book with cautious suspicion.

Gavin nodded distractedly, still reading as they continued to speak. “Magic-casters have a stronger spirit than most supernaturals because everything is self-taught, instead of just being born with it. There’s a lot of self-control in learning magic, X-Ray, even if you were just an apprentice.”

“And most of the deaths we’ve been seeing recently have been natural ones. Even with all the chaos going on we haven’t really had an influx of suspicious deaths or anything like that, so the majority have just been normal humans.” Ryan tapped his pen against the table in thought, running through possibilities in his head. “It seems likely that the coven is just grabbing the spirit of everyone who dies in the area and holding them wherever you were, Ray.”

“So what you’re saying is that I was basically caught in a giant, ghost, fishing net and I just happened to manage to jump out before we were pulled back in? Because I’m not okay with being a ghost-fish.”

“Hate to tell you it, mate, but pretty much.” Gavin grimaced at him, “What I’m worried about is what the hell they're trying to do with _that many_ spirits.”

“Yeah, that uh, that doesn’t seem like a good thing. What _do_ you need that many spirits for?” Ray glanced between the two of them, not encouraged by their solemn expressions.

Ryan turned around to pull a book off the shelf behind him, flipping through the pages rapidly before stopping at the sight of a page plastered in images.

“There’s only a few things which require the kind of power which comes from that many people. And when the source of power is dark the spell is almost always the same so it’s not going to be good…” He trailed off, eyes darting across the page to find a particular passage, “Ah, here. _Large amounts of energy are required for spells which alter the reality of the world around the caster. Spells such as; Global alteration of weather patterns, Widespread illness or plague, Blights upon large areas of land, and Cross-dimensional summoning._ ”

The three of them exchanged a look, the wolf butting its head against Gavin’s leg as the level of nerves in the room grew.

“Well none of that sounds good.” Ray spoke up after an extended silence, the tension too much for him.

“It doesn’t, no. But we need to figure out which one they’re shooting for because we need to be prepared to stop them.” Ryan looked down at the list, fingers running along sentences as though the answer was hiding in the old paper.

“Something’s not adding up…” Gavin murmured from his side of the table, eyes cast downward in thought. “If they need spirits for whatever they’re trying to do, why bother with the aggression spell? They’d just be using up energy they could be using to hold more spirits.”

“Maybe they were just trying to distract us?” Ryan piped up, “Move our focus somewhere else so we wouldn’t notice the spirits going missing?”

“But we wouldn't have noticed anything going on at all if it wasn’t for the aggression spell, if anything we’re paying more attention to them…” Gavin wasn’t convinced, there must be another reason.

Ray sat up from where he’d been lounging against the wall, eyes suddenly bright with an idea, “What if the aggression has something to do with whatever spell they’re casting? Like if they need aggression in the area for it to work or something?”

“That’s, hmm…” Ryan trailed off, flipping through the book in front of him once again until he found what he was looking for. “Here.” He glanced up at the two of them to make sure they were paying attention, finding rapt expressions focused on him. “Okay, so depending on what is being summoned, the creature may have requirements to prevent them from just rampaging and killing the summoners.

“ _There are four main planes which are summoned from; The Celestial, The Demonic, The Eldritch and The Mystic._ If we’re looking for aggression-based creatures we’re most likely talking either Demonic, Eldritch or Mystic, almost definitely Demonic.” Ryan read ahead, “Many demons survive on emotions or spiritual power whilst on our plane, such as aggression. It seems like a good place to start.”

 

\-------------------

 

It took a couple of hours for Geoff to finish his work and make his way to Ryan’s research room to check up on how he was progressing. He didn’t expect to find the room inhabited by three disgruntled supernaturals, a sleeping wolf and a veritable explosion of books.

“Damnit guys, we need to keep track of which books we’ve already checked or we’re just going to be running in circles.” Ryan’s tired voice flowed from one side of the room, stacks of books and loose paper blocking Geoff’s view of the immortal.

“Oh, fuck off, Ryan. Maybe if you crawled your way into the modern age and actually put this shit on a computer we wouldn’t be having this problem. A quick CTRL-F and we’d have information flying out of our asses.” Ray was currently lying on his front, feet kicking behind him as he scanned through a heavy tome.

“We’re almost done, just a couple more to go you lot!” Gavin’s faux-chipper encouragement rang from the corner where he’d piled books around himself to form some kind of fort.

“So, uh, what’s going on guys?” Geoff slipped further into the room, three heads darting upwards at his not-so-sudden, surprise arrival.

Gavin grinned at him, “Oh not much, Geoffers. We’re just working out which horrible demon is about to be summoned within walking distance of our house and almost definitely herald in the apocalypse. Really no biggie.”

“That’s sounds like no biggie in the same way your nose does. By which I mean it’s fucking massive.” Geoff came to stand in the centre of the room, surveying the chaos around him, “So what are we going to do about it?”

“We need to figure out which demon is being summoned, then we can work out how to stop the summoning, or reduce the damage if we can’t prevent it.” Ryan picked up a piece of paper covered in hastily written scrawls. “We’ve already narrowed it down to a few possibilities, luckily there’re not really that many demons directly linked with aggression. As long as we’re not wrong about that being the trigger the demon about the be summoned should be on this list.” He passed the list to Geoff with a frown.

Geoff quickly scanned the list, taking in the information scribbled beside each name, “Two of these don’t have information yet, you’re still looking?”

Gavin raised his hand in acknowledgement, drawing Geoff’s attention his way, “I’ve just finished with one of them, and the others are working on the last one.” He held up another piece of paper filled with a noticeably neater set of notes. “But I reckon we’ve already got the name researched.”

“Oh do you? And what’s that then, Gavino?” Geoff watched as Gavin mercilessly destroyed his book-fort, hardbacks falling everywhere accompanied by a pained moan from Ryan.

“Gav, do you mind?”

“Oh oops, sorry, Ry-bread.” Gavin smiled sheepishly at the immortal, seeming to try and push the books back into some semblance of order before giving up and just leaving them as they fell.

“Gavin? Demon?” Geoff prompted good-naturedly, watching the klutz try and right his mess.

Gavin whipped around to face Geoff, an apologetic tilt to his lips. “Oh, right. Okay so I reckon it’s,” He plucked the sheet of paper from Geoff’s hands, studying the page for a moment before jabbing at the paper, “This one, Aeshma. They’re a demon commander, focused around wrath and rage, and capable of feeding on the aggression of those around them.”

“Well it sounds like a good match, what’s the holdup?” Geoff glanced over at Ryan who was mumbling to himself.

“The holdup is that we’re not done researching yet and it could still be this one we’re looking into now.”

“Nah.”

“Gavin, that’s not how this works-”

“Nah, it’s Aeshma.” Gavin nodded haughtily, convinced of his correctness.

“How can you tell? Just because it’s a good match doesn’t mean it’s a definite.” Geoff watched Ryan clench and unclench his fist against the table, pulling deep breaths into his lungs in an attempt to deal with their infuriating colleague.

“Just a feeling.” Gavin shot the mage a smug look, “Anyway, it’s the only one which matches up power-level-wise. That one you’re looking into is way too weak for a coven to bother going through all this effort to summon them.”

“Are you saying Ryan made me read when I didn’t have to?” Ray grumped in the corner, lip sticking out in a pout, “Ryan, how could you? I thought we were bros?”

“Shut up, Ray.” Ryan turned back to the others, Ray pulling himself back to standing to join them in a huddle around the table. “Okay, so say it is Aeshma-”

“Which it is.”

“Damnit Gavin! Say it is them, what do we know?”

Gavin placed the paper back on the table, reaching for another page with some more detailed notes. “Okay, so like I said, commander, wrath, rage and general destruction. Feeds off of negative emotions, particularly aggression. They’re reasonably powerful so that explains the ridiculous amount of souls the coven has collected, since there’s no way you could power a summoning spell like that without an alternate power source.”

Ryan jumped in as Gavin finished speaking, continuing his factfile on the demon. “In holy texts they’ve been observed fighting celestials representing Truth and Obedience, although I’m not sure how we could harness that to our advantage…”

“Maybe we could just start tell them facts about us and doing what we’re told, would probably drive the thing crazy.” Ray joked lightly.

“Christ, if I knew all it would take to get you lot to do what you were told was a demon invasion I would have summoned one myself…” Geoff muttered.

“I’m just trying to figure out _why_ the coven’s trying to summon them. It’s not really a demon with a purpose, just general destruction and mayhem.”

“Well they’re magic-radicals, ain’t they? Maybe they’re going for a world-domination, power to the mages type thing?” Gavin suggested, managing to look both uninterested and concerned at the same time.

“I mean, it’s not like no one’s tried it before. And if you’re going to start a mage-uprising Austin is the place to do it, it has the highest ratio of magic users to non-magic users in the country.” Ryan was looking more and more worried by the minute, ideas of what could happen making their way through his mind.

“Well, if that’s what they’re planning we need to figure out how to stop them. Meet upstairs in thirty minutes and we’ll get everyone updated and start making a plan of attack.” Geoff groaned into his hands before looking at each of the men in the room in turn. “Good work boys, now it’s time to start sorting out this shitshow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know what you thought :)  
> Next chapter up next Sunday!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So chapter 8 going up now because I'm going to go pass out after extra life in a minute, been awake for about 30 hours or so... Hopefully I didn't miss too much when I gave it a quick edit a minute ago, if there's anything glaringly obvious let me know and I'll sort it out :)   
> So those relationships are building, isn't that just the most exciting thing ever?

“So what you’re telling us is that the bitch coven is trying to summon a rage demon, most likely to help them create some sort of mage-supremacist society? And we need to work out how to stop it?” Michael asked incredulously, all eyes fixed on Geoff at the front of the room, Ryan shifting uncomfortably by his side.

Geoff sighed, “Well when you put it like that it sounds shitty, but if we manage to stop the herd of dickheads from summoning the asshole then we only have to deal with the coven, and we’ve already taken out a bunch of them.”

“Yeah, and look how well that went!” Michael almost gestured towards Gavin, the aftermath of his stay with the coven still scarred into all of their minds, but diverted to point towards Ray instead, the ghost seeming much more chilled out about the whole event.

“We’ll be prepared this time; we won’t let them get a jump on us.” Ryan cut in, “What we need to do is work out a plan to stop the summoning, because either we fight the coven on their own or we fight them backed up by a demon commander. The only real choice we have is whether to try and stop the summoning or not, and to me that’s not much of a choice at all.”

There was a mumble of assent around the group, small discussions beginning to break out before Geoff clapped loudly to grab everyone's attention. “Thanks to Ryan, Gav and Ray we know some stuff about the demon and how they’ll have to be summoned so hopefully we’ll be able to work out how to stop them. Ryan, you want to take this?”

The immortal stepped forwards, clearing his throat as he went, “Yeah, sure, no problem. So due to the power level of this demon the circle used to summon it will have to be large, that means they’ll need a lot of space. On top of that it will most likely be somewhere inside to prevent the weather interfering so we’re probably looking at a warehouse or some other large building that’s out of the way. I’m going to try and use a tracking spell on Ray to find out where he was being held, hopefully it’s close to where they’re going to perform the summoning.”

Lindsay raised her hand, waiting for Ryan to ask her what she needed before speaking, “So what do we do once we’ve found their base? Just walk in and ask them to stop?”

“If only.” Ryan snickered, “Once we’ve found them we can work out the best way to interrupt the summoning spell. If possible it would be best to sabotage it before the spell begins; release the spirits, damage their equipment, whittle down their numbers enough that they can’t perform it, that sort of stuff. If not then we’ll have to disrupt the spell itself, which could be dangerous, but whatever it takes we have to stop them from summoning this demon.”

“What about once we’ve stopped the spell, they’re not exactly going to just let us go?” Jack quipped from the back of the room where he was leant up against the wall.

Geoff stepped forwards, addressing the room at large, “We’ll deal with them however we have to. If that means just taking them out, then I know I’m certainly not going to be crying for them.” From the nodding and murmurs around the room it seemed like everyone agreed. “Great, okay, everyone go get some rest. We don’t know when everything is going to go down so I don’t want you shits wearing yourselves out.”

The group dispersed reasonably quickly, some heading to the kitchen whilst others seemed to be planning a game of Mario Party in the B team office to chill out. Geoff hung back to talk to Ryan, glad to see that Ray stayed nearby too.

“So how long to you reckon it’ll be before you can do this tracking spell thing? We really can’t hang around if they’ve already got enough souls to perform the spell.”

“I need to gather some ingredients together and check a few texts to make sure the spell will work. It’s a bit more complicated than usual because only his spirit is present, but I should be able to make it work.” Ryan furrowed his brow, calculating times in his head. “I doubt we’ll get it done tonight, but I’ll make an early start tomorrow.”

“Okay, as long as we can get someone out to check it out by lunch tomorrow I suppose we can’t ask for any more.” He almost continued speaking but cut himself off as he heard a muffled whimper from the other side of the table. “What the hell?”

The two rounded the table to find Gavin on his knees in front of Jeremy’s wolf, the creature had his muzzle buried in the vampire’s chest, whines falling from him in a way which made Geoff’s heart sink. “Hey, Gav.” He whispered, sinking down beside the pair and carefully running a gentle hand through the wolf’s fur. “Is he okay?”

“I think so; I think it’s just the transformation coming on.” The Brit looked up to make eye contact with him before focussing back on the creature before him. “In a human-to-wolf transformation there’s a lot of enhanced senses coming in, it’s why Jeremy got so agitated before, too much energy and nowhere for it to go. But when it comes to going back the other way… Well apparently it’s almost like your senses shutting down, your hearing and sense of smell dull, all of these human emotions start rushing back in and to top it all off you don’t have the adrenaline rush to block out most of the pain like you do in the early stages of human-to-wolf transformations.”

“So it’s just shitty all round then?”

“Pretty much…” Gavin wrapped his arms around the wolf’s neck, letting him bury his face further into his chest. “I always hated this part the most, it sucks not being able to do anything to help.” He winced as the wolf let out a particularly pained whine.

The vampire huffed before accepting the inevitable, “Okay, I know this is going to suck but we need to get you somewhere more comfortable, because you’ll punch me if I let you sleep on the dining room floor after all this.” He spoke softly to the wolf, the animal apparently understanding because he attempted to stand on shaky legs, mostly held by Gavin’s arms around him.

Ryan rushed forwards, arms slipping under the large wolf’s torso to help Gavin, “Hey, come on, between us we should be able to carry him.”

“Thanks Ry,” He shot the immortal a grateful look, “If we can get him upstairs we can put him in my room, he’s probably going to drop as soon as he finishes transforming so he should be near a bed,” They hefted the weight of the wolf between them, Geoff looking on nervously, ready to jump in if they needed him. “And I definitely can’t be bothered trying to get him all the way up to his room, so he’ll just have to deal with mine for now.” Gavin smiled good-naturedly over at the other man as they made their way over to the stairs, carefully manoeuvring their way up step by step.

 

\-------------------

 

It had been a couple of hours since they had moved Jeremy up to Gavin’s room, and the wolf was still writhing his way through the middle stages of his transformation.

Ryan had left for a while, ensuring he had the materials for his tracking spell the next day and bringing any books or papers he needed to read up to Gavin’s room to assist him in keeping his vigil. Whilst he was gone Gavin had set about making the room more comfortable for the transforming wolf, drawing the thick curtains to block out the few remaining rays of sunlight and draping a thick blanket over the wolf’s head in the hopes of easing his changing senses some.

It seemed like it had worked for a while, the whimpering emanating from the bundled-up creature calming slightly under Gavin’s careful ministrations. But as the sun set something seemed to shift in the wolf and he began to move restlessly, as though he had an itch just beneath his skin which he could not quite reach.

Gavin and Ryan had moved away, settling themselves on the small couch in the corner of Gavin’s room. Ryan was diligently reading through some of his notes on tracking spells and Gavin, whilst supposedly helping him, was focused on the covered figure on his bed, concern lancing through him as the cries became louder and more desperate.

It must have been almost nine when most of the noises stopped, replaced by laboured panting, Gavin and Ryan exchanging cautiously optimistic looks before standing to approach the bed. “Jeremy? You with us buddy?”

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy’s head was pounding, his whole body ached and a heavy exhaustion seemed to be dragging him down into whatever soft surface someone had been kind enough to rest him on. The world around him felt just slightly off, his senses still not quite adjusted right so that everything had a sort of floaty, far away feel to it.

This was why, when he heard someone say his name from what sounded like the other side of the room he brushed it off, ignoring it in the hopes that he could just go to sleep and ignore the world around him.

But then it came again, this time with a familiarly foreign accent, “Lil’ J? You alright under there, mate?”

Jeremy grumbled, still not feeling quite up to words as he pulled the blanket over his head away from his eyes just enough to see who was talking to him. Ryan and Gavin peered down at him, both smiling softly at his sudden appearance.

“There you are. Welcome back to the world of the bipedal.” Ryan grinned at him before leaning to the side to grab a bundle of something, “We grabbed some clothes for you if you want them? Or you can just stay in the blanket, I don’t really care either way.”

Jeremy eyed the immortal for a moment with suspicion before glancing down at himself to find that, oh yeah, he was totally naked under that blanket.

He was sure he was burning red as he snatched the proffered clothes from Ryan’s hands and spun away from the two to slip the pair of baggy sleep pants on beneath the blanket. His body complained at the sudden movements but he pushed it from his mind, he refused to be naked around these men who were surely in much better shape than he himself was.

Dragging a T-shirt over his head he much more carefully turned back to the pair to find matching smirks on their faces.

“What?” He grumped, refusing to meet their eyes as he pulled the blanket tight around him, something about the soft material and gentle scent comforting his frazzled nerves.

“Nothing, Lil’ J, we’re just glad to have you back. Not that your wolf wasn’t lovely but he’s not much of a conversationalist.” Gavin beamed at him and Jeremy couldn’t help but smile back, the vampire’s joy infectious. Although, looking at the man now Jeremy felt an involuntary surge of guilt and concern wash through him causing his smile to drop into a frown. “Jeremy? You okay?”

“I, uh, yeah. Just a weird feeling.” Jeremy rubbed at his eyes trying to expel the tiredness and odd emotions all at once. “It’s probably just left over from the wolf… Did uh, did anything happen?”

Jeremy wasn’t ecstatic about the way that as soon as the words left his mouth the two of them shared a look, one of Gavin’s hands coming up to unconsciously cup his shoulder.

“What, guys? Tell me.” This was the part which Jeremy hated about the transformation, not being able to prepare for whatever happened whilst the wolf was in charge.

“It really wasn’t a big deal, J. And it wasn’t your fault in any way-”

“Gavin, what happened?” Jeremy dropped his voice to a low growl, impatient to know what he had missed.

“Let’s just say we found out that whatever’s been affecting all the other supernaturals in the area affects werewolves too.” Ryan cut in, diffusing some of the tension between the werewolf and the vampire momentarily.

Jeremy trembled at the idea of his wolf out of control, memories of childhood and rogue turned 'wolves flashing in his mind. “I, I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?” His voice was smaller than the others had ever heard it, the question asked tentatively.

Gavin placed a placating hand on Jeremy bare ankle, the skin on skin contact flaring in his nerves after so long with thick fur. “It really wasn’t your fault, Jeremy. It was whoever’s casting this spell.”

“Who, Gavin?” Jeremy stared ahead, refusing to relax until he knew the extent of the damage.

“Me.” Gavin answered bluntly, launching into his explanation before Jeremy could cut in. “But it’s really nothing, I barely even felt it! I mean it’s already almost healed and-”

“Let me see.” Jeremy interrupted, voice deceptively calm as he watched the vampire flail.

“Jeremy-”

“No Ryan. I just… please Gav? I need to see it.” The pleading must have been what finally did it because Gavin watched him in silence for a moment before nodding slowly. Reaching for the hem of his shirt he pulled the material away from his body, revealing tan skin dashed with scars.

As he dropped the shirt in his lap Jeremy’s eyes were drawn to the freshest marks, three healing scratches across Gavin’s right shoulder. Without hesitating, without even really realising what he was doing, Jeremy was tracing the marks with his own fingers, careful not to catch the new skin with his nails. Gavin shivered as he touched the sensitive skin but put up no argument.

Ryan shifting beside them seemed to break whatever spell had taken hold of them, both of them snapping out of the trance they seemed to have slipped into.

“Well it uh, seems to be healing well. That’s good.” Jeremy cleared his throat nervously, surprising himself when a huge yawn slipped from his mouth.

“Hey you’re tired, get some rest.” Gavin smiled down at him, gathering his t-shirt to his chest and standing to leave.

“Hey, Gav? This is _your_ room…?” Jeremy asked carefully, almost fully unwilling to leave but knowing that if asked he would do so begrudgingly.

Gavin grinned, fangs flashing in the dim light of the room, “Well I’ll loan it to you for tonight, you don’t look like you could make it upstairs. I’ll just sleep in your room.”

“Yeah, yeah okay.” Jeremy was too tired to put up a true fight, and the longer he sat there the more tempting it was to just crawl under the covers, wrap himself in the sweet-smelling blanket and sleep for hours on end.

The two more alert supernaturals whispered quiet goodnights to the already dozing werewolf, clicking the door closed behind them.

 

\-------------------

 

It wasn’t until after they had made their way back downstairs and Ryan had stashed his books once again that Gavin spoke up, slipping into the kitchen behind Ryan as the other man made a beeline to the fridge.

“Ry, can I ask you something?”

Ryan pulled his head out from behind the appliance door to glance at the vampire, “Of course, Gav. But first, and very importantly, do you want a sandwich?”

Gavin nodded, settling himself at the breakfast bar as he watched the mage work, towering turkey and an assortment of extras on the good rye Jack bought a few days earlier. It wasn’t until Ryan had placed a plate before him and taken a place across from him that he continued.

“What’s going to happen, after all of this is sorted?” He was staring down at his sandwich contemplatively, seeming to look through it more than anything else.

Ryan finished chewing the tactically large bite he’d taken, using the time to think on what Gavin had asked. “What do you mean, Gav? With the coven?”

“Yeah, like, what about after? What happens to Ray and all the other spirits? What do we do if we can’t stop them? What if we stop them but they get away again, like-?”

Ryan reached across the table, stopping Gavin's tirade with a gentle hand on his arm. “Hey, it’ll be okay. We’ll stop the summoning, that I can guarantee you, even if I have to body check every one of those bitches myself.” Gavin covered a sneaking smile with his free hand, unwilling to pull away from the comforting contact with the immortal. “And if some of them manage to somehow get away, you’d better believe that we will hunt them down and take them out. They’re not getting you again, not unless they go through every one of us first.”

Gavin pulled his arm away from Ryan’s grasp and for a moment Ryan panicked that he’d said something wrong. Then barely a second later Gavin was slipping his hand into Ryan’s own, his hold strong as he shot the immortal a watery beam.

“Thank you Ry-bread. Really.”

“Hey, we’ve got your back, you know that.” Ryan grinned at him supportively, answering his touch with a squeeze of him own.

They slipped into silence after that, refusing to let go of one another as they quickly ate their snack. After dusting off their plates Ryan moved to stand but Gavin pulled him back.

“You didn’t answer my other question, Ry. What’s going to happen to the spirits, to Ray?”

Ryan darted his eyes upwards, locking on Gavin’s for a second before looking away again. “I don’t know, Gav…”

“What do you mean you don’t know?! You’re the expert, you’re meant to know these things!”  Gavin was fuming opposite him, finally releasing Ryan from his bruising grip.

“Look, Gav, there are a lot of factors which go into why a ghost could still be around. It’s possible that he might be able to hang around after the containment spell is broken, but it’s equally as possible that we’ll break the spell and all of the spirits will move on to wherever they go. Including Ray.” Gavin refused to meet his eye, every muscle in his body tense as he tried to find some way out of the emotional hole he’d found himself in.

“There’s a chance he’ll still be around, maybe he still has something to do here before he can move on. Knowing Ray, he’ll be the first ghost held back from moving on because he hadn’t gotten all the achievements on a game or something.” Ryan’s attempt at humour didn’t seem to penetrate Gavin’s shell so instead he stepped around the island to stand directly before the Brit, wrapping strong arms around the slim frame and tugging him close.

Gavin buried his face in Ryan’s shirt, not crying but feeling some sort of emptiness threatening to take hold of him. He simply clutched tighter to the other man, slowly feeling himself relax through the soft murmurings which reached his ears.

“Shh, Gav, it’ll be okay, we’ll be okay.” Ryan’s hand came up to cup the back of Gavin’s head, fingers running through messy hair as the man in question stood stock-still in his arms.

After what could have easily been as little as a minute or as much as an hour Gavin shifted, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s back to actively draw him closer and lifting his head to rest on the other man’s shoulder. “I’m scared, Ry.”

“Scared of what?”

Gavin drew in a deep breath before speaking, “I’m scared of losing him again. I’m scared of what it will do to me.” He huffed a humourless laugh. “Is it bad that a part of me is angry at him for coming back? I just- I was getting better.”

“It’s not bad, Gav. But I think you’ll be okay, it might even be good for you in the long run. You’ve had a chance to redeem yourself in your own eyes now, you’ve had a chance at closure. And you’ve had a chance to say goodbye.” Ryan pulled away to look at the vampire in his arms, making sure to still maintain contact with the clinging man. “And maybe now that you’ve heard it from him you’ll finally believe that what happened _wasn’t your fault._ ”

“I- Yeah, I suppose you’re right. It’s just hard, you know?”

“I know, Gav. Now come on, it’s getting late. Time to get some rest.” With a gentle pat to Gavin’s shoulder Ryan turned away to take care of their plates only to turn back a few minutes later to find the vampire still stood where he left him, shifting from foot to foot nervously. “You alright, Gavin?”

“I um, I was just wondering… Do you think I couldstaywithyoutonight?” The end of the sentence came out as a jumble of words, Ryan unable to work out what the Brit was trying to say.

“What was that, Gav?” He stepped closer, hoping to catch it this time.

Gavin took a deep breath, centring himself. “I asked if I could stay with you tonight?”

“Oh.”

“I mean, it’s okay if you say no, I get it, it’s weird. I just don’t really want to be on my own tonight, but it’s fine if you say no, really, don’t worry, I’ll be fine, I’ll just-”

“You can stay with me, Gav.”

“Wha- Really?” Gavin grinned at him, something tired still peeking out from behind his eyes. “Thank you, Ry.”

“It’s no problem, Gavvy. Now come on, bed time.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! Jeremy sleeping in Gavin's bed, Ryan and Gavin sharing a bed, just a lot of bed-related stuff this chapter.   
> Hope you enjoyed, let me know :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9!   
> We're really starting to get close to the end now guys, by my estimation there will probably be three to four more chapters.   
> So we get to see the aftermath of Gavin and Ryan's sleepover from last chapter, and get a bit of Ryan and Ray backstory.  
> Enjoy!

It hadn’t taken long for the two of them to fall asleep, Gavin sticking his head into his own room to check on Jeremy and grab a change of clothes before shuffling his way past Ryan who was holding his door open. A few moments of awkward silent changing later and they were settled in for the night, each of them securely on their own side of the bed.

Murmured goodnights broke the silence before they both drifted off, the excitement of the last twenty-four hours draining them to a point that even age-related existential crises couldn't keep them awake.

Ryan woke with the sun, as he always did. Usually he wouldn’t head downstairs straight away, instead choosing to read or otherwise entertain himself with the added advantage of possibly pissing Geoff off. But this morning he had work to do so he moved to sit up only to find himself pinned by two thin arms. Glancing down he realised that at some time during the night either Gavin or himself must have rolled towards the other and, Gavin’s body apparently taking this as permission for cuddling, the vampire had promptly wrapped himself around the sleeping immortal.

Ryan craned his neck to get a look at the clock beside his bed. 5am, he still had time, no one else would be awake for at least another hour. So, refusing to acknowledge the part of himself which sighed and melted at the cuteness of the sleeping man pressed to his side, Ryan reached for his book and settled in for at least a little while longer.

 

\------------------

 

Unusually for him, Gavin awoke gradually. Even more unusually Gavin awoke to the feeling of fingers running gently through his hair, the sensation almost lulling him back to sleep. The hand pulled away, the sound of a page turning could be heard and Gavin grumbled sleepily under his breath, hoping it would somehow bring the soft touch back.

“Oh, sorry.” Gavin could practically feel the deep timber of the voice from where his head was resting on the speaker’s chest. “I guess I was doing it without realising, I’ll stop.”

To Gavin’s sleepy mind that seemed more like a threat than an apology and he moaned quietly, inching his eyes open to glare at who he now remembered was Ryan. “Don’t you dare.”

Ryan’s chuckle bounced Gavin slightly and he couldn’t even find it in himself to be annoyed because the hand was back. He let his eyes slide closed once again and pressed his cheek closer to Ryan’s chest, for a moment just letting propriety fly out of the window and wallowing in the comfort the other man provided.

“You know I’m going to have to get up soon, right?”

“Hmm, but until then shut up.” Gavin wasn’t asleep but every muscle in his body was relaxed against Ryan, his words spoken directly into the other man’s t-shirt in a way that probably meant he was having trouble hearing him. Gavin found that he didn’t care.

They probably lay like that for another five minutes or so before Ryan let out an irritated noise and grumbled softly, “I really need to get up now, Gav, sorry.”

Gavin went completely limp against him, stubbornly refusing to help Ryan get up and forcing the immortal to physically lift him from his chest and drop him back onto the mattress.

“Oi!”

“I did tell you to move.”

“Technically you didn’t.” Gavin sprawled across the bed, arms and legs spread wide in his best impression of a starfish. “You’re not getting your bed back, by the way. Why is yours so much more comfortable than mine?”

“Because I actually went to the store with Lindsay and picked it myself, instead of staying here and goofing off with Geoff.” Gavin could hear the sounds of Ryan getting ready for the day, but even the promise of seeing the man partially dressed wasn’t enough to get him to open his eyes.

“Not fair.” He mumbled.

“Completely fair.” Ryan’s statement was accompanied by the closing of a drawer and Gavin finally worked up the energy to glance over at the man as he pulled on his socks. Now ready for the day Ryan looked down at his guest, shaking his head in fond exasperation, “You can go back to sleep, you know. Geoff probably isn’t expecting you up for another hour or so.”

“Wait, what time is it?” Gavin blinked up at him sleepily.

“About six?”

Gavin squawked before flopping onto his front, burying his face in his pillow. “What the hell Ryan, why are you awake so early?!”

“Habit?” Ryan chuckled as he watched the vampire flip him off behind his own back. “Plus I have work to do, need to get that tracking spell up and running.”

“Oh yeah.” Gavin flipped back onto his back and blinked up at Ryan, “Good luck with the spell!” The vampire grinned up at him.

“Yeah, thanks Gav. Go back to sleep.” Ryan let himself out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him before making his way downstairs.

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy woke up to a dark, unfamiliar room, and for a moment he panicked before remembering the events of the previous evening.

“Oh yeah, Gavin’s room.” He glanced around, eyes taking in his surroundings slowly through the still present fog of sleep. An old-looking clock up on the wall informed him that it was seven and as much as he wanted to go back to sleep there was really not much point. So instead he forced himself to roll out of bed, every muscle in his body seeming to seize up as he forced them to move.

After a few seconds of adjustment and another few seconds of trying to put the bed back into some form of order (not that he thought Gavin would mind, but his mother had raised him right) he tried to decide whether he could be bothered to head upstairs to his room to thank Gavin right away, or if Ryan right next door would be a better first goal for his poor aching muscles.

Making his decision he slowly made his way outside the room, hissing as his feet hit the cold wooden floors of the hallway. Standing outside Ryan’s room, he knocked gently, not wanting to jar the man awake too suddenly if he was still sleeping. The sound of an accented voice calling for him to come in surprised him but he accepted, inching the door open slowly and stepping in.

“Uh, Gavin?” He looked around the dim room, his eyes finally landing on the figure curled up against the headboard.

“Hey, Lil’ J. How’re you feeling?”

Jeremy couldn’t help the smile which snuck onto his face at the other man’s concern, a warm feeling flooding his chest. “I’m good, thanks, I uh, I wanted to say thank you, for helping me out over the last few days.”

Gavin sat up straighter in bed, sleepy eyes meeting his own in the early morning light. “It’s no problem, J, really. What are friends for, after all?”

“Yeah, friends.” Jeremy chuckled, stepping further into the room. “What are you doing in here anyway? I thought you were going to stay in my room?”

“Oh, well me and Ryan were talking last night and I couldn’t really be bothered to go upstairs so I just crashed here.” The vampire was smiling happily but Jeremy could tell he was holding something back from him. And he had to admit that seeing Gavin so relaxed in another man’s bed had something in his gut curling unhappily.

“Oh, okay.” They stood awkwardly for a few seconds before Gavin spoke up again.

“Hey, Lil’ J?”

“Yeah?”

“Come here for a second?” He patted the bed beside him and Jeremy found himself drawn forward to perch on the edge of the mattress. “Okay, so a bunch of stuff went down whilst you were all wolfy, I figured since you’re here I’ll give you the basics now?”

“Alright?”

“So, first of all, Ray’s back-”

“Like _Ray_ Ray?” Jeremy asked disbelievingly, blinking at Gavin.

“Oh yeah, it was a whole thing. I mean, it’s not like he’s alive. He’s a ghost and he was being held captive and it’s a whole mess. So we were trying to work out why and in trying to work out why they were holding a bunch of spirits we figured out what the coven’s end goal is.”

“What is it?” Concern laced through Jeremy’s words and he found himself leaning in just slightly.

“They’re trying to summon a demon, we’re not completely sure why yet but Ryan and Ray are trying to track down where they’re holding the spirits so that we can stop them.” Gavin spoke about it so matter-of-factly but Jeremy’s head was spinning.

“So we’re trying to stop a demon invasion?”

“Probably just one demon, no need to be so overdramatic, J.” Gavin’s good humour calmed Jeremy down just enough for him to take in everything he needed to.

“So we have a plan, right?”

“Well, most of a plan. We’re going to scout out wherever the coven is holding up and try and find a way to disrupt the summoning.”

“Okay, well that _is_ most of a plan, I suppose.” Silence fell once again, Jeremy trying to subtly look over at Gavin.

“What, Lil’ J?”

Jeremy snapped straight, cheeks burning at being caught, “Oh, um, sorry, I just, I was wondering how you are?”

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be fine.” Despite his words Gavin shifted uncomfortably.

“Well I mean, Ray’s back, and we’re dealing with the coven again. I guess I thought it might be bringing up some bad memories?” He watched as Gavin schooled his features, carefully placing a calm mask over whatever emotions had been threatening to escape.

“I’m okay, Lil’ J. Really.” He stretched before making a shooing motion at Jeremy, swinging his legs out of bed. “Now, we should really go and check on Ryan, make sure he’s eaten something and didn’t just hurl himself into his spellbooks like the little spaff he is.”

Gavin stood, arms stretching above him to reveal a slither of tanned skin. Jeremy snapped his eyes away as Gavin began to speak again. “Come on, time for breakfast. And then we get to go demon hunting!”

 

\-------------------

 

Ray was perched on the table, legs swinging freely beneath him as he watched Ryan set up for his spell.

“So you need a map of the surrounding area, hopefully this one will be big enough, and then we use the solution we made up earlier to line the outskirts of our boundaries. That stops our spell from stretching too far and draining the caster if something goes wrong. So then we just-”

“Dude, as much as I appreciate the optimism I don’t think I’m going to be needing magical tuition in the afterlife.” Ryan froze, realising that he had been slipping into his old habits of talking about spell methodology to Ray.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” The immortal ducked his head, getting back to work in silence. After a few minutes he sat back to look over his work, the blown-up map spread across the floor showing the entirety of Austin and several miles outwards in every direction.

“I think we’re ready. If you want to do anything before we complete the spell now’s the time to do it, Ray. I can’t guarantee what will happen afterwards.”

Ray was staring down at his feet, only glancing up when Ryan began to speak to him. “Oh, I mean, I don’t really want to go round saying goodbye to everyone on the off chance shit goes belly-up. So I suppose I just…” He hopped off of the table, his feet silent as they touched down on the wooden floorboards. “I wanted to say thank you. You didn’t have to take me in, and you definitely didn’t have to treat me as well as you and everyone else did. So, yeah, thanks for that Ry.” He smiled up at the much older man, surprised to see the look of sorrow on Ryan’s face.

“You know, Ray, you were my first proper student. I’ve taught people a thing or two here and there but you were my first ever _apprentice._ And there was a reason why I took you in.”

“Because of my good looks and devilish charm?” Ray smirked up at him, refusing to get emotional about the old man.

“God no, do you own a mirror?” Ryan chuckled at Ray’s affronted expression. “I took you in partly because it was the right thing to do, but I took you on as my apprentice because I saw real _potential_ in you.” He sighed, “If it hadn’t been for everything that happened I could see you becoming something really amazing.”

“Really?”

“Mmm hmm.” Ryan nodded, smiling at the young ghost. “Also because you would do what I told you, I mean it was because you were too lazy to argue but I’ll take what I can get.” They laughed quietly together for a moment before Ryan shifted back into work mode. “Okay, if there’s nothing else you need to do then let’s get started.”

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy and Gavin arrived at Ryan’s room slightly more awake from breakfast and bearing coffee for the immortal. Opening the door they were greeted by the sight of two very tired-looking mages and a giant map of Austin.

“Hey guys. Ryan we brought you coffee.” Jeremy offered, stepping further into the room to pass the warm mug into Ryan’s grateful hands. Even without touching him Jeremy could tell that the man would feel cold to the touch. “Here, sit down.” He guided Ryan to one of the chairs which had been pulled away from the table, settling him in it before grabbing a spare blanket, which had most likely been left by Gavin or Lindsay at some point in the past.

Draping the blanket around Ryan’s shoulders the mage looked up to offer him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Jeremy. Glad you’re feeling better.”

“Me too, now drink your damn coffee.”

On the other side of the room Gavin was crouched beside a listing Ray, hushed words being exchanged. “Hey, X-Ray, you alright?”

“I’m okay, Vav. Just the first time feeling tired as a ghost, feels weird.” Ray grimaced up at the vampire who just did his best to rub his friend’s back reassuringly.

“Well did you guys find anything? Did you manage to get a location?” Gavin cast his eyes back towards the map before focussing on Ray once again.

Ray grunted as he sat up straighter, crossing his legs beneath him, “I think so. It sure felt like something happened.” He frowned, rubbing at a spot on his chest.

“Hey, Ry?! Did you guys get anything?!” Gavin shouted over at the mage, glad to see that he seemed to be getting a little colour back in his cheeks.

“Yeah, it burnt a mark into the map, I’ve got the address written down over here if someone wants to take it to Geoff?” The immortal was still looking a little on the grey side but he managed to send a triumphant grin over to the Brit.

Ray pushed himself to standing, apparently the lack of a physical body lent itself to quicker recovery time. “I’ll do it; you go fuss over Ryan.” He ushered Gavin over to where Jeremy was hovering beside the other man, snatching the piece of paper and making his escape before anyone could argue.

“Well that was odd.” Jeremy was the first to speak up, all three of them still watching the closing door after the ghost’s swift exit. “Anyway, are you feeling any better, Ry? You were looking a little off for a while there.”

Ryan frowned up at the two of them, “I’m fine, I just didn’t anticipate how quickly the spell would spread and it drained me a bit more than I expected.” He moved to stand only to be pushed back down into his chair by two sets of hands.

“Oi, you stay in that seat at least until Geoff gets here. No need to push yourself for no reason, right?” Gavin hopped up so that he was perched on the table beside Ryan, swinging his legs happily.

“Fine, if you insist.” The three stayed in silence for a minute or two, the only sounds Gavin’s muted humming and Ryan sipping his coffee. Once again breaking the silence was down to Jeremy.

“So why did the spell drain you so much? It moved too quickly?” He was still watching the mage closely for any signs of a decline, but so far he only seemed to be getting better.

“Ah, yeah. I suppose it’s because I kind of rushed it.” Ryan chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “It was a bit cobbled together from a few different spells and I must have forgotten to block all the loopholes.”

Gavin nudged him in the shoulder, opting not to go for a full-on punch with the other man in such a frail state, and muttered a soft “idiot” in his direction. Jeremy still seemed confused.

“Wait, loopholes? I thought it was just like, say spell, spell works?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit more complicated than that. You have the basic spell, which is usually built from chopped up bits of other spells, and then you take that spell and search for all possible ways it can fuck you. So with this spell I had to block random teleportation for both me and Ray, limit the area of the spell so it didn’t just outright drain me, and stop it from latching on to any random spirit which could be wandering by." He listed everything off on his fingers, irritation slipping into his expression a moment later. "And apparently I forgot to place a basic timing control on it, so it basically used my energy like I had zipped around the Austin area in a few seconds flat.”

“Which isn’t good?”

“It’s not great.” Ryan smiled at him tiredly, eyes drooping.

Gavin clapped his hand down on Ryan’s shoulder, “But now you’ll know for next time, and you won’t do anything stupid like that again.”

“Well, that’s the plan, yes.” Ryan grinned up at him before setting his now empty mug down beside him and pulling his blanket tighter around him. “Christ, how long is Ray taking?” He glanced up at the still closed door as though it would summon the ghost back to them.

Jeremy shrugged, moving Ryan’s mug out of the way so he could hop up to sit on his other side, the three now forming a rough triangle. “Maybe Geoff was in a call?”

“Or maybe he’s just ignoring him, he’s a bit of an arsehole like that.” Gavin scoffed, subconsciously moving closer to Ryan in an attempt to keep any heat which escaped from his cocoon contained.

Jeremy leaned over until his shoulder and Gavin’s were almost touching, “How long _have_ you known Geoff? You guys seem close.” It had been nagging at Jeremy since he’d first seen the pair interacting, the easy comfort between them obviously built over a number of years.

“Ah, well it’s been a while now, let me think.” Gavin tapped at his chin as he crunched numbers in his head, with how long he'd been around dates all seemed to run together sometimes. “Well I turned him near the end of World War One, but I met him like a year or two before that… So probably like-”

“Wait, did you say you _turned_ Geoff?” Jeremy was staring at him, eyes wide as dinner plates as he rearranged his perception of the pair’s friendship. “I thought that vampire sires were all like, controlling and shit?”

Gavin shrugged, looking vaguely embarrassed, “Well, I mean yeah, normally. But I never really had the normal spawn-sire relationship so I didn’t know how to treat him, so I just treated him like I always did. It seems to have been working out for us so far.” He shrugged dismissively.

“So you guys have known each other for, what, like a century?” Jeremy asked carefully, not wanting to push the subject if Gavin wanted to drop it.

“Uh, yeah, actually almost exactly. I must have met him for the first time around 1916.” Gavin looked baffled for a moment, “Weird coincidence, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jeremy was finding all of this fascinating, he needed to remember to pick Gavin’s brain about history in the future. “What about you two?” He looked between Gavin and the sleepy Ryan, who until now had been listening quietly from his seat. “When did you two meet?”

“Ah, well that was earlier than Geoff. Actually, we met before Ryan was even all immortal and shit. I think it was the early 1800’s? Is that right, Ry-bread?” Gavin seemed to be having trouble keeping dates straight in his head.

Ryan huffed, “Probably, most likely the 1820’s. I was still a kid.”

“Yeah, and your dad was a right prick.”

“He wasn’t _that_ bad!” Ryan felt like he needed to stick up for his father, even if there had been times he felt the same way Gavin did.

Gavin threw his hands up in the air, “He tried to stake me!”

“It was an honest mistake, he thought you were the one going round murdering those kids.”

“Like I would murder children! And it was so messy, obviously not the work of a vampire. Or at least one with any sense.” Gavin grumped, crossing his arms with a pout.

“Anyway, after the first time we met we just seemed to keep running into each other. You know, like that guy you always see at the supermarket? You don’t really know each other that well but you sort of end up kind of being friends?” Jeremy nodded, he supposed when you looked at it that way it seemed to make a lot more sense than the idea of two people meeting multiple times over almost two centuries.

“So you’re _both_ old as fuck then?” Jeremy questioned, not quite quick enough to prevent the guffaw which flew from his lips at the matching frowns he received from the pair. “Okay, okay, sorry!” He raised his hands in defence, making a calming motion.

The sound of the door swinging open had all three heads raising, Ryan’s still slightly more sluggish than the others’. “Hey guys, Geoff says meet in the dining room in ten minutes?” Ray smiled uncertainly at them as he received answering nods. “Cool, see you then.”

 

\-------------------

 

“Holy Jesus balls, Ryan! You look like crap, man!” Geoff’s exclamation didn’t go unnoticed by the small crowd already gathering around the dining room table. Half a dozen pairs of eyes focused on the mage who was already regretting leaving his blanket in his research room as a chill began to set in once again.

“Oh, shut up Geoff.” He grumped, plonking himself down in a chair instead of taking his usual place standing on the edge of the group. Everyone must have noticed but they smartly kept it to themselves, considering Ryan’s rapidly declining mood.

“Fine, you be a grumpy dick.” Geoff stuck his tongue out in a very not-century-old-vampire way, only receiving an eye roll in response. Getting back to business Geoff turned to address the group, “Okay, well thanks to cranky over there, and Ray,” He nodded towards the ghost who shot him finger pistols with a grin, “we’ve got the location of the warehouse where Ray’s spirit was kept.”

“Awesome, so when are we going in to kick those old bitches’ asses?” Michael was already fired up, punching one hand into the other as he glared down the table at Geoff.

“Not yet-”

“What the **fuck** do you mean ‘ _not yet’_?!” Michael hissed across the room, eyes burning as he stared down his boss. “Those assholes _need_ to get what they deserve!”

“Yes, and they will. But it still seems a bit too convenient that Ray just came back to us when he did.” Geoff frowned.

“You’re thinking trap?” Jack chimed in from his usual spot leant up again the wall, huge arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Maybe, I just know that this time we’re not taking any chances.” His eyes settled on Michael before darting across to where Jeremy hovered near Ryan. “Michael, Jeremy, I want you two to head down to the warehouse now to scout it out. Be on your guard! I’m not fucking around here; you watch each other’s backs or you’ll have more than the coven to worry about!”

“Of course, Geoff.” Jeremy stood up straight as the vampire spoke to them, the man’s impassioned words hitting something within him. Geoff was scared.

“No problem, Geoffy. I’ll keep an eye on Lil’ J, won’t let him out of my sights. East coaster’s gotta stick together!” He raised a hand and Jeremy obliged by slapping it hard, the sting pumping him up just as much as Michael’s enthusiasm.

“Okay, you guys don’t hang around, a quick in and out is all we need to work out if they’re actually there or not. Everyone else rest up, we’ve probably got a long night ahead of us.” Geoff’s words were still ringing in Jeremy’s head as the group began to disperse, Michael slinging an arm around his shoulders and pulling him away.

However, he didn’t leave quickly enough to miss the look Gavin was levelling at Geoff, something between a glare of anger and a look of disappointment. He didn’t want to be around for whatever conversation was coming next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!  
> I will say that next chapter is almost finished being written (should finish tonight) and I kind of love it, it's so dramatic and there's finally some properly shippy stuff involved! It's great, it might be my favourite chapter for content so far :)  
> Also, I've got like 8000 words of Gavin's backstory already typed up (It'll probably end up being double that by the end) which I'm planning on releasing on the same schedule as Creatures once this story is finished, so you've got that to look forward to, I'll tell you now that it involves Joel and drama and all sorts of good things!  
> Next chapter up next Sunday as usual  
> Let me know what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10! I actually really like a lot of things about this chapter, so hopefully you guys will too :)   
> Fun fact, yesterday was the first day I didn't write anything for this fic in 23 days, I've been setting myself a challenge to write at least 500 words a day and the day before yesterday I broke the 40,000 word mark so I figured I deserved a rest day. But back to it today! Need to finish this so I can move on to back- and side-stories and all sorts of other fun things!  
> Enjoy guys!

The room had cleared pretty quickly after Geoff finished talking, everyone heading off to prepare for whatever went down that evening. Only Gavin and Geoff remained in the room, Gavin seething silently as he watched his long-time friend attempt to ignore him.

“Geoff, this is bullshit and you know it!” Gavin took a step forwards and Geoff automatically retreated despite everything in him refusing to give up ground to the other vampire. It was rare for Gavin to use his sire status against him, but right now Geoff could feel a distant pressure against his mind, their usually unused connection flaring to life.

“Gav-”

“No, you know I’m more suitable for stealthy missions than either Michael or Jeremy. You can’t keep holding what happened against me!” The pressure was beginning to hurt now and one of Geoff’s hands drifted to his head, cradling his temple lightly.

“Gavin!”

Gavin seemed to finally realise what he was doing, his face dropping as the pressure suddenly fell away, leaving behind a vague ache behind his eyes. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Geoff! Are you okay?” He rushed to the other man’s side, carefully helping him to lower himself into one of the chairs before fluttering around him in a way which Geoff couldn't help but find endearing.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just- don’t do that again, please.” Geoff was massaging his head with his eyes closed, hoping that force of will would get rid of the lingering pain. He must have been more out of it than he thought because what felt like just a moment later Gavin was crouching in front of him and offering him a glass of water and a bottle of blood.

“I wasn’t sure which would help more so I brought both…” He shrugged shyly, pressing the containers into Geoff’s hands.

Geoff chuckled, popping the cap on the blood and chugging half before following it with a mouthful of water. “Thanks, Gav.” He continued taking smaller sips of the two liquids whilst Gavin gathered himself to speak.

Finally, he glanced up to meet Geoff’s eyes, obvious upset still present in the hunched set of his shoulders. “I really am sorry, Geoff. I just got… overemotional, I suppose. I didn’t, I didn’t mean to do that to you…”

Gavin jumped as a hand fell on his shoulder before rubbing comfortingly. “Hey, I get it, Gav, and I know this is an emotional time for you with everything going on with the coven, and Ray, and Ryan and Jeremy.”

“Wait, what about Ryan and Jeremy?” Gavin boggled at him.

A loud guffaw fell from Geoff’s mouth as he watched his friend, “That’s for you to figure out, dude. But aside from that, I do get it. But _you_ have to understand that I have to take _everyone’s_ safety and wellbeing into consideration. If I sent you out there I can’t guarantee how you would react if something happened and you could put your partner in danger.”

“But-”

Geoff held up a finger to stop Gavin’s interruption. “No Gav, it’s true. And on top of that, I don’t know how everyone else would react if I had sent you out there. I know that after you came back it was tough for you, but we all had to get through not knowing if you’d even wake up for _three months_.” Gavin dropped his head to level his gaze at the floorboards, guilt washing over him. “I know for a fact that at least Michael and Ryan would have thrown a fit if I had sent you out today. And the last thing we need right now is an internal argument. Do you get what I mean now?”

Gavin seemed to have wilted throughout Geoff’s speech, now leaning against the table with his head bowed low. He nodded in answer to Geoff’s question but that wasn’t good enough for the vampire.

“Gav, please look at me?” The Brit reluctantly raised his head, Geoff sighing at the familiar exhausted expression on his face. “I need you to understand what I’m saying here. This isn’t your fault, at all. It’s not your fault that I’m not sending you out there any more than it wouldn’t be Michael’s fault if I wasn’t sending him out because of a broken arm. You’re not better yet, and you will be someday, maybe even soon, but not yet. And until you are I’m not willing to put you in a situation which could reverse the progress you’ve made.”

When Geoff made eye contact with the other vampire he seemed less upset, a little of his fire back in his eyes despite still not being completely himself once again. “Okay, I get it Geoff.”

“Good. Now get out of here and go annoy Ryan or something, I’m sure both of you could use some rest before this evening.” Geoff smiled reassuringly and felt a spark of warmth in his chest when Gavin answered with his own watery grin. He pulled the lad close for a second, the reminder of the lad’s capture making him more grateful than ever that he was nearby and safe.

As he let go he refused to meet Gavin’s shocked expression, instead shooing him in the direction Ryan had taken with a knowing grin on his face.

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin was just about to head up the stairs when voices from behind him alerted him to Jeremy and Michael’s presences. Whirling around he lay eyes on the two lads preparing to head out, making sure that they had everything they needed before they left.

“Hey lads!” He called out, jogging down the few stairs he had made it up. The pair by the door looked up at his voice, smiling at the vampire’s arrival.

“Hey Gavvy! You going to wish us luck boi?” Michael grinned, pulling Gavin into a headlock which had the Brit sputtering and flailing for escape. When he finally managed to get away he leapt backwards and scrambled to hide behind Jeremy, making a funny picture as most of his head peeked over the top of the werewolf.

“Michael, why are you so mean to me, Michael?” Gavin whined from behind Jeremy, the shorter man reaching round to pat him on the shoulder.

“He doesn’t mean it, Gav. It’s just that being around Lindsay too much has fucked up his idea of how to show affection.” Gavin chuckled from his hiding spot, hugging Jeremy around the waist and hooking his chin over his shoulder.

“You always know what to say, Lil’ J.”

Michael fake gagged at their affectionate display, grinning at the pair as they glared at him. “What? You’re gross is all. Anyway, we need to head off. Jeremy, I’ll wait by the car whilst you to say goodbye to lover boy.” Giggling to himself he went to leave, punching Gavin in the arm as he passed them.

The sound of the door swinging closed seemed to suck most of the air out of the room and Gavin had the sudden urge to step away from Jeremy, his mock-affection seeming less like a joke now that they were alone. “Um, yeah, you should go. I suppose.” He stuttered, kicking himself mentally for how nervous he sounded.

“I, yeah, in a minute. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you seemed upset back there…” Jeremy glanced in the direction of the dining room and Gavin mentally groaned at the proof that someone else had noticed his little outburst at Geoff.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just had to speak to Geoff about something, is all.” He grinned but he had the feeling it wasn’t very convincing from the way Jeremy’s concerned frown didn’t shift.

“Well… If you’re sure. But if you need to speak to someone you know that you can talk to me, right? Or Ryan.” Jeremy’s face suddenly flushed red, “I mean, or anyone, I’m sure everyone else is a good talker person too. Probably…” He trailed off with a grimace.

“Jeremy?” The werewolf glanced up just in time to see Gavin hurling himself towards him, extending his arms in time to accept the hug without crushing them against his chest. “Thank you. And be safe out there, please.”

Jeremy squeezed the slim man once before letting go, the soft smile on his face mirrored on Gavin’s. “Of course. We’ll be back before you know it.” He pulled the door open and glanced back quickly. “See you in a bit, Gav.”

Gavin lifted a hand to give a small wave, it dropping to his side as the door swung closed.

“Fuck.” He ran a hand over his eyes, weariness bearing down on him despite only waking up a few hours prior. He turned on his heel and made his way to Ryan’s room, hoping that spending time with his favourite immortal would calm him down some.

 

\-------------------

 

Ryan was lying in bed with a pillow flung over his face when someone knocked hesitantly on his door. Groaning, he rolled off the sheets, thankful that his feet caught him easily instead of leaving him as a pile of limbs on the floor.

Shuffling towards the source of the noise he squinted against the small sliver of light which was peeking through his curtains, promising himself to fix it whilst he was up. He gripped the door handle and opened it slowly, peeking around the edge in the hopes of avoiding any light which may try to slip in.

He really wasn’t that surprised to find Gavin on the other side, however it was somewhat of a surprise that the vampire suddenly looked like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days.

“Hey Gav, you okay?” He invited the other man into his room with a casual wave of his arm, shutting the door behind him once Gavin had stepped into the darkness. Instead of his usual callous disregard for propriety Gavin stayed standing rigidly just inside the door, eyes locked on his own feet. “Gav?”

“I’m okay, Ry, just one of those days, you know? Just one thing after another…” He trailed off with a sigh, eyes drifting around the room until they finally landed on the rumpled sheets Ryan had left behind him on the bed. “Oh! Were you sleeping? I’m so sorry, Ry, I’ll go-”

He turned to leave only to be blocked by Ryan straddling across the door frame, arms crossed stubbornly. “Oh no you don’t, you don’t get to go off and stew in stupid thoughts whilst I’m here. Sit your ass down and tell me what’s wrong.” He pointed towards the bed, Gavin nodding slowly before backing up to perch on the edge of the mattress. Ryan sat beside him, only a few inches separating them, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Now talk.”

Gavin seemed to droop at whatever thoughts were brought to his mind but a nudge from Ryan set him back on track. “Ry, I did something bad. Like, really mean bad.” He sighed, distractedly scratching at his neck.

After a moment of silence Ryan gave up, “What happened? It couldn’t have been that bad, I didn’t hear any screaming…” His attempt at humour fell flat, Gavin just shooting him an unimpressed look.

“I used my position as sire against Geoff, I was angry and upset and I didn’t even really realise I was using it, but I-”

“That’s all I needed to hear, you didn’t mean to Gav.”

“But I _hurt_ him! How could I- How could that be okay? I know we’re not normal sire and spawn or anything but I should still be protecting him!” Gavin’s eyes were wide, his pupils dilated in panic.

“You should be, and you have in the past. But everyone makes mistakes, and I’m sure Geoff forgave you?” He prompted the vampire to tell him what Ryan already knew.

“I suppose; he did say it was okay… But he always says he’s okay!”

“A bit like someone else I know.” Ryan cast him a significant look, causing Gavin to glance away shamefaced.

“I know, I know, you don’t have to go on about it.” He mumbled, refusing to look back at what he knew would be Ryan’s smug face.

“Okay, what else, you said there was more than one thing?” Gavin glanced back at him, surprised to only see kindness and acceptance on the other man’s face.

“Well, there _was_ a thing with Jeremy…”

“Ooh, sounds like good gossip, what happened?” Ryan sat forward, putting on his best high school girl impression as he twirled a set of fake ponytails.

“Oh, shut up, Ry-bread!” Gavin slapped his arm lightly, hand resting against Ryan's skin just slightly longer than he normally would have allowed. “It was just, it got really awkward between us after something Michael said. But then it was okay and I just, he was so sweet and nice and I just suddenly hugged him.”

“And it felt weird?” Ryan asked carefully, pushing down whatever small spark of jealousy flared in his stomach as the vampire spoke about the other man.

“…No. It actually, it felt really good. Like how being around him has always felt right…” Gavin’s voice had an edge of realisation and Ryan felt that spark of jealousy jump back to life, burning brightly in the pit of his stomach. “Like how I feel around you.”

The last words were barely above a whisper, Ryan barely catching them despite their close proximity. “What?” He spoke back in the same low tone, it seemed wrong somehow to break the peace which had fallen.

“You heard what I said, you pleb, don’t make me repeat it.” Gavin was twisting away from him uncomfortably but Ryan reached out to clasp a hand around one skinny wrist.

“Gav, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Ryan knew that his eyes were probably too bright right now, and he was putting in a conscious effort not to squeeze the other man’s wrist too tightly.

Gavin gave a small smile, reacting to Ryan’s simmering excitement, “Probably?”

Soft hazel eyes were boring into him and Ryan had a sudden feeling that he had to do this now, that any other time and the moment would pass. “Gavin, can I kiss you?” He leant in at the words, the two of them closer than ever.

Instead of answering Gavin simply closed the gap, sealing his lips over Ryan’s own.

The kiss was slow and leisurely, close-mouthed but their clasped hands and fingers which traced the other’s cheeks gently painted the picture of a pair with the future in their minds.

Ryan smiled as Gavin pulled away unhurriedly, hazel eyes blinking open in a daze with a dopey expression plastered across his face. “Well that was nice.”

“Hmm, yeah.” One of Ryan’s thumbs still drifted across Gavin’s features, outlining the shape of his jaw as though he was trying to memorise it. He tried to turn away to hide his yawn but when he turned back Gavin was watching him fondly.

“Tired? We could probably both use some rest.” The idea seemed like heaven, Ryan nodding as he dragged Gavin with him, pulling the sheets back to allow them beneath. Hauling the Brit close to him as they lay down he wrapped them up, ready to sleep.

“We need to talk, about everything, and about Jeremy.” He felt Gavin shift uncomfortably at the mention of the werewolf, but he refused to let his happy buzz leave. “But that can wait for tomorrow, for now we sleep, then we go fight the evil bitch coven.”

“Hmm.” Gavin hummed under his breath, shimmying closer to Ryan as he settled in to sleep. “Lovely Ryan, sleep tight.”

Ryan clutched him close, a sedate joy vibrating through him as he let sleep take him.

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy wasn’t sure if he’d describe the atmosphere as tense in the car, but there was certainly an undercurrent of uneasiness as they approached their destination.

“Almost there, Lil’ J. We’ll park up a bit away and head in on foot, yeah?” Michael glanced over at the younger man in the passenger’s seat.

“Sounds good. How much longer?” Jeremy was jittery knowing what had happened the last time they tried to scout out this coven. Throwing a look out the window he saw trees whizzing past as they sped towards the warehouse, most of the signs of suburbia having left them long ago, now their journey was decorated with signs of people at work and depleted nature.

Michael sniffed, darting a look at the sat nav which he was using as more of a guidance than a true map. “Not long, five minutes before we get out probably.”

“Cool.” Silence fell again, both of them preparing for what was coming, ready to sneak, bolt or fight as the situation called for.

When Michael finally pulled over it was into a small parking lot next to a currently abandoned construction site. “This should do,” Michael spoke as he hopped out of the car, “Just remember where we left it.”

“Okay, how do we get to this warehouse then?” Jeremy was keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, even five minutes out they couldn’t let their guard down.

“If we head back to the road and follow it along we should find the side-road we need. Come on.” Michael motioned for Jeremy to follow and the two set out in silence, turning left as they hit the road once again and walking perpendicular to it a short way into the brush.

Jeremy supposed they must have been walking for five minutes when Michael held up his hand to signal a stop. The two of them ducked low, remaining hidden in the bushes as they snuck forwards, the warehouse just visible from where they crouched.

“That’s it? I was expecting something more, I don’t know, ominous?” Michael chuckled at Jeremy, careful to keep his voice low.

“Well if they all built ominous fortresses it _would_ make it a lot easier to spot the evil ones, would certainly make our jobs easier.”

They kept watch for ten minutes and didn’t see a single person enter or leave the building, despite there being several cars parked outside.

“There’s got to be someone in there. Maybe we should get closer? We need to work out whether this is where they’re going to do the summoning thing anyway.” Michael sounded unsure, but his expression was set as he carefully took a step out of their cover. When nothing happened he motioned for Jeremy to follow them, making their way around the building until they found a door.

The warehouse only had limited natural light, peeking through the tiny windows which lined the tops of the walls, so it was no surprise that when they snuck inside the building it was noticeably dim. Michael motioned for Jeremy to take point, his heightened senses hopefully giving him an edge on detecting anyone nearby.

The pair remained close to the ground as they began their search, keeping an eye out for anything which would suggest a large spell was being cast or even just that this warehouse really did belong to the coven.

They had been sneaking through the offices in the back for a few minutes before they found anything interesting, a set of stairs led to a balcony which overlooked the main room, giving them the perfect view of whatever was going on downstairs.

They stayed low as they watched the comings and goings of the group below them, not really able to garner anything specific about their actions from this height without any real expertise. But it was difficult to mistake the large circle drawn across the floor, probably twenty feet across.

The circle was drawn in a dark red which Jeremy really hoped was just paint, runes and words he could neither see or understand were twisted around the edge with smaller circles dotting the edge.

Michael turned to Jeremy, his voice only picked up because of the werewolf’s enhanced hearing, “So that’s got to be it, right? The spell circle or whatever?”

“Looks like it. Let’s get a picture for Ryan and maybe a few of the layout of the room and get out of here, this place feels fucking weird.” The hair along Jeremy’s arms was standing on end, and had been ever since entering the building, from a sort of electricity in the air. It was making him jumpy.

“Sounds like a good idea.” The changeling popped his head over the balcony, phone held in front of him as he snapped photos of each entrance and the room at large, as well as a few close ups of the circle. “Okay, we’re good, let’s get out of here before someone notices us.”

Jeremy couldn’t have said it better himself, once again taking the lead as they made their way back downstairs and into the small office block. Sometime whilst they’d been upstairs someone had been through the area and Jeremy purposefully moved slowly as the new scent prickled at his senses.

“Someone’s around, be on your guard.” He hissed back at Michael, motioning for him to keep low. The changeling shot him a thumbs up and bundled closer to Jeremy’s back, ready to run if they needed to.

As it was, another, more distant, scent caught his attention before he could find the source of the first, pulling him away from their set course as curiosity tugged at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Michael whisper-shouted, eyes bright as he glared at the werewolf. “The exit’s the other way, you’re going to get yourself killed wandering off!”

“There’s… I smell Gavin…” Jeremy whined, although he would later refuse to speak about it when Michael brought it up.

“He’s not here, Lil’ J. He’s back at the base with the others!” Michael realised his voice was gradually raising and he reigned it in slightly. “Whatever’s here is probably just what they took off him when they had him.”

Jeremy shook his head, he knew Gavin wasn’t here, but he had another concern to raise. “What if they need some of the stuff they took off Gavin to perform the spell? As ingredients, or whatever? We could slow them down by taking them and destroying them!”

Michael sighed, he knew their argument couldn’t go on for any longer, someone could walk past at any moment. “Fine! We’ll take a look, but if it’s taking too long or it starts to look dangerous we’re getting out of here!”

“Deal. Thank you, Michael.” Jeremy smiled.

“Yeah, well, don’t thank me yet, we could still get ourselves killed.” Michael grumbled, but honestly any revenge he could get on behalf of his boy was fine by him.

“Come on, it’s this way.” Jeremy waved him down a narrow hallway towards the source of the smell, turning once more before being presented with the open doorway of what was once probably a storage room. “It’s in there.”

“Okay. Is there someone in there?” The pair of them were crouched by the last turn they took, Michael keeping watch in case someone approached.

Jeremy took a moment to listen, taking in the noises within the room. He could hear the faint sound of glass clinking together, and something wet being poured. “I think so. You stay here and keep watch, and I’ll deal with whoever’s in there?”

“Yeah. Don’t take too long, and keep it quiet.” Michael gave him a supportive smile and a pat on the back before turning back to his watch.

Jeremy snuck along the wall, keeping low and trying to walk as silently as possible. He peeked his head around the door to find a woman in dark robes sat at a wooden bench. She seemed to be bottling samples of something Jeremy really hoped hadn’t once been inside Gavin.

Without giving himself a moment to hesitate he stepped into the room, careful to keep himself below the woman’s sight-line. He took a silent breath as he reached her, swiftly standing and wrapping one arm around her throat and the other around her torso, effectively cutting off her oxygen supply. After she’d been limp in his arms for a moment he let her slip to the floor and cast his eyes around for whatever had been giving off the Gavin-scent.

He was sadly not shocked to find that what the witch had been transferring was in fact Gavin-sourced and he made sure to seal the jar tightly before looking around for some way to carry everything. He spotted what looked like an old duffel bag in the corner, pulling it up onto the workbench and beginning to fill it.

He worked out quickly that everything in the room labelled with “ _Vampire_ ” and dated between the dates when Gavin had been held belonged to him. He was shocked by the sheer number of jars and pouches which contained what had once been parts of his friend.

“Oh Gav…” He sighed, grabbing what he really hoped wasn’t a kidney to place that in the bag too. He needed to get back to the vampire soon, seeing all of this was starting to get to him.

Once he had a bag full of what he thought was all the Gavin samples in the room he walked back to Michael, the man smiling up at him as he approached. “You get everything?”

“I think so… There was a lot…” He hefted the bag to show Michael his gory collection and the changeling shuddered.

“Christ.” He groaned, allowing a moment of horror at what his friend had gone through before pulling himself back together. “Come on, we need to get out before we have the whole coven coming down on our heads.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! 
> 
> Question for you guys-I'm thinking about starting a tumblr to let people get in contact with me easier for prompts and stuff and also so that I can post my writing on there too, what do you guys think?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11! I'm not massively proud of this one but there's a lot of set-up for the final chapter or two so it's kind of needed, plus we get a bit of Ryan and Gavin being cute so that's always good.  
> Enjoy!

The house was quiet when Michael and Jeremy returned. The pair closed the door slowly behind them, hoping to avoid being noticed until they had a chance to speak with Geoff about their acquisitions. It felt odd to sneak around their own home and Michael found himself grateful that Geoff’s office was so close to the front door.

Jeremy knocked lightly, receiving muffled permission to enter and opening the door on a calm conversation between Geoff and Lindsay.

“Hey guys, didn’t hear you get back.” The phoenix cast a glance between the two of them, “You okay?”

“Uh, well we completed our mission, we’ve got pictures of the spell circle and the warehouse where it’s being cast. We didn’t find wherever the spirits are being held, but we did find something else…” For the first time since Jeremy met him, Michael looked nervous, obviously unsure how the others would respond to what they had done.

Geoff nodded, quirking a questioning eyebrow, “So what did you find? You didn’t do something fucking stupid, did you?”

“Well that really depends on how things pan out. But I think you’ll understand when we tell you.” Michael gestured towards Jeremy who had been silent up until now.

The werewolf shifted into motion, careful strides bringing him to stop before Geoff’s desk with the duffel bag held in his hands. “So we were on our way out when I caught a familiar scent.” He reached down to unzip the bag, revealing the contents to the other pair, thankfully all of the containers were sealed so the strong smell of blood was limited.

Both of them recoiled slightly, more in surprise than actual revulsion; after all, both of them had gotten over any fear of blood a long time ago. “What is this, Jeremy?” Lindsay was leaning closer to get a better look, careful not to touch anything.

“It’s everything we found in the warehouse which carried Gavin’s scent.” Geoff seemed ready to give his input but Jeremy jumped back in, “We figured if they were so set on having it then maybe they needed it for the spell? And maybe by taking it we could delay them for a while?” His voice was hopeful, even though even he could see holes in their plan.

“It’s a nice idea, lads, but I don’t think it will delay them much. I imagine they didn’t keep everything in one place-”

“You mean this isn’t even all of it?!” Michael’s rage was building again, everything about his boi’s abduction being brought up again was raising his hackles.

Geoff offered him a calming look, reaching in to poke around in the bag. “There are a few things which I _know_ they took which aren’t here. I mean, there is the possibility that they’ve sold them, but I doubt it if they needed vampire bits for the spell.” He sighed, a part of him wishing he could just put all of this coven nonsense behind them. “We’ve just got to hope that all of this going missing and, I’m assuming, some minor damage to some witches-?” He glanced at the pair, both of them looking away, embarrassed. “We’ve got to hope that that doesn’t spur them into performing the spell earlier than they were planning.”

Michael froze, “Shit. Fuck!” He hadn’t even thought of that. How could he be so stupid?

“Hey, don’t panic.” Lindsay’s soothing voice washed over them and she cast a gentle smile Michael’s way. “We were planning on going this evening anyway. _Plus,_ they probably haven’t even noticed yet. It’ll take a while for them to get themselves together enough to be able to perform any sort of spell.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Michael was looking down, refusing to meet Lindsay’s grin, but Jeremy could see him smiling subtly.

“Plus, with this maybe we can get Gavin’s head back into the game.” Geoff brought his hands down on to the duffel bag, everyone else wincing at the muffled squelching sound it produced. “Maybe being able to destroy the evidence of what those dickheads did to him will help him get through all this shit.”

There was a general mumble of agreement from the other three. Geoff picked up the duffel to place it beside his desk, purposefully out of the way so no one would be stepping on or tripping over it. “I’ll keep it here until we know what he wants to do with it. Michael, you send those pictures to Lindsay, Ryan and myself and we’ll look over them. Jeremy,” The werewolf glanced up at him, previously revelling in no longer carrying around the results of his friend’s disembowelment. “Could you go and get Gavin and Ryan? I think they went back to their rooms to rest.”

“No problem, Boss.” Jeremy nodded, turning to leave with a smile.

The room was silent for a moment, Lindsay piping up once she was sure Jeremy would be out of hearing range, “So you’re still dropping hints? You think they’ll ever realise?”

Geoff groaned, dropping his head into his hands heavily, “I don’t know, they’re just a bunch of morons…”

Michael stepped forwards, taking his place close to Lindsay's side, “Well I saw Jeremy and Gav getting pretty close before we left this morning, maybe there’s hope for the idiots yet.”

“Maybe.”

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin hadn’t really slept much, mostly just resting in the calm silence of Ryan’s room. The mage seemed to have passed out completely, his chest rising and falling with soft snores as Gavin rested his head over the other man’s heart.

Being so close to the immortal left Gavin feeling safe in a way he hadn’t really experienced in a long time, definitely not since he was captured, maybe not even since before he met Geoff. There was a warmth in his chest which he had been beginning to think he’d never feel again. But now, wrapped in Ryan’s arms with the smell of him permeating everything around him, he found himself snuggling closer, desperately hoping that this would last.

They had probably been resting for a few hours, Gavin loath to move too much in case he woke the sleeping man, when a light knocking at the door sounded, followed by Jeremy’s voice drifting through the thick wood.

“Ryan? You awake, buddy? We’ve got some pictures of the spell circle for you to look at.” Jeremy wasn’t speaking particularly loudly but apparently it was enough to rouse Ryan, the larger man shifting beneath Gavin restlessly and wrapping his arms tighter around the vampire.

“Urgh, what…?” Ryan murmured, refusing to open his eyes, although even if he did it would only yield him a view of his pitch-black room.

“Stay here, I’ll go talk to Lil’ J.” Gavin soothed the mage back to lying flat, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek and refusing to acknowledge how giddy the casual closeness of the motion left him feeling.

He answered the door to a curious looking Jeremy who quirked one eyebrow up at him, “You know, I think I’ve seen you in Ryan’s room more than your own recently, is there something going on between you two?”

The werewolf smirked at him and Gavin couldn’t help tossing a glance behind him at the sleeping mage, “Uh, kind of? It’s a bit complicated.” He was still facing away from the shorter man so he missed Jeremy’s face dropping for a moment before he managed to school his features back into his usual calm expression.

“That’s great, Gav, congratulations.” He offered the vampire a smile which was returned with a huge beam.

“Yeah, it’s uh, we’re still working out some things though. There’s some gubs we need to go over…” Gavin angled a look at Jeremy but the werewolf was looking directly at his feet. “So, what did you need? Something about pictures?”

“Oh, yeah! We managed to get some pictures of the spell circle for the summoning, Michael sent them over to Ryan’s phone and I think Geoff wants to talk to him about it once he’s had a look.” Gavin gave his thanks for passing on the message, beginning to turn to leave. “Wait, Gav? Geoff wanted to speak to you too, we found something which he thinks you might want to see.”

“What is it? Is it something that could blow up? Because Ry will want to see it too!” Gavin chuckled as he heard shuffling around from behind him, Ryan obviously listening in and realising he’ll have to get up soon anyway.

“Not really, look it’ll probably be easier if Geoff explains it, I’m not good at this stuff…” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.

“Don’t be silly, Lil’ J! You’re great at lots of things! _And_ you help me mess with the others, which is really more important than anything else!” Gavin was giggling as he heard grumbling from Ryan in the room.

The mage leaned over his shoulder, glaring at Gavin before transferring his look to Jeremy. “You’re the one that helped him with the balloon prank? I was picking confetti out of my ingredients for days, you little shits!”

Jeremy tried his best to keep a straight face, but when faced with what was admittedly a very cute, ruffled and grumpy Ryan he found he couldn’t hold in his laughter.

 

\-------------------

 

The mood in Geoff’s office was sombre when Jeremy re-entered, Gavin trailing behind him after dropping Ryan off in his office to look over the pictures. At some point Lindsay must have left but Michael was still present, perched on the arm of one of Geoff’s chairs, talking quietly to the vampire.

As the returning pair slipped into the room Geoff and Michael’s conversation stopped, the pair turning to greet them. “Hey Gav, how you feeling?” Jeremy could almost feel something beneath Geoff’s words, but he decided to let it slide, after all if there was any time for their boss to show concern for the Brit it was now.

“I’m fine, Geoff. Great, actually!” Gavin grinned, apparently completely unaware of the weight in the air, probably because he was the only one present who didn’t know what was inside the duffel bag beside Geoff’s desk. “Why? What’s up?” The vampire glanced around at his friends, trying to gauge their reactions.

Geoff sighed, “Gav, Jeremy and Michael found something which we think you should know about. They brought it back so it couldn’t be used against us, but it’s up to you what we do with it now.” Geoff’s serious voice seemed to snap Gavin out of his joyful mood, the older vampire watching his spawn carefully.

“What is it, Geoffrey? Nothing unpleasant, I hope?” He stepped forwards cautiously, Jeremy remaining where he stood beside the door, this barely involved him and he wanted to let Gavin have his space.

Geoff hefted the duffel bag up onto his desk with a huff, the clinking of glass jars and the squelching of fluids audible in the dead silence of the room.

Gavin took another step forwards, coming to stand directly in front of Geoff’s desk, breath held as his mind went into overdrive. “Is that-?”

Geoff nodded, “The lads found it whilst they were scouting the warehouse, apparently the coven was planning on doing something with it. They figured it was better in our hands than theirs.” The pair made eye contact, Geoff’s stormy, contained anger meeting Gavin’s surprisingly calm acceptance.

“I uh, I want to destroy it. I want to put it all behind me.” Gavin’s voice rang with surety and Geoff knew that the other vampire wouldn’t come to regret his decision.

“Okay, well we can probably burn it, if you want? Jack built that big ass firepit out back that we’ve never used?” Gavin nodded, taking a deep breath and setting his shoulders. “Tomorrow? After we’ve dealt with the coven? You could get all of your closure out of the way in one twenty-four-hour period, dude.” Geoff grinned at him and Gavin replied with a watered-down version of his usual smile, the other vampire couldn’t hold it against him though. “Okay, well if we’re done here, how about you lot get out of my office, I've got work to do!”

The trio of lads grumbled as they filed out, although once they were out of the room Michael made sure to grab Gavin’s attention by tugging on his arm, “You alright, boi?” Even without dropping most of his usual gruff outward appearance, Gavin could tell that Michael was sincere.

The vampire nodded, patting the other man on the shoulder in thanks, “I’m good, lad. Or I will be once this is all over.” He groaned, the idea of finishing this once and for all both seemed so close and so far away. “Oh, and thank you for finding that stuff, and for bringing it back. It’s not a good thing, but I appreciate it, boi.”

Michael laughed, slapping the Brit on the back, “You welcome, Gavvers, but it’s not really me you should be thanking for that…” He grabbed Gavin’s shoulders and turning him in the direction of a blushing Jeremy. “Lil’ J’s the one that sniffed it out and brought it back, I just played watch-dog.” With a final parting grin and a mocking wave Michael left them to their business, slipping into the B-team office to bother Lindsay.

“So, uh…” Gavin sidled closer to Jeremy, although he was careful to keep some distance between them, what happened with Ryan and the implication of what could happen with Jeremy holding him back. “You tracked down my missing organs for me, huh?”

“Well it sounds weird when you put it that way…” Jeremy seemed nervous, not quite making direct eye contact with Gavin as he spoke.

“I’m choosing to focus on the meaning behind it rather than the actual act, because honestly the idea of anyone knowing what my kidneys smell like makes me feel a bit queasy.” Gavin thankfully held down the gag which rose in his throat, although Jeremy took a step forward as if to help him.

The werewolf shrugged, “It wasn’t really a big deal, I just figured you wouldn’t want them to have it, you know, after everything that happened.” He was surprised when Gavin stepped forwards to pull him into a tight hug, a slight air of desperation slipping through the vampire’s calm façade.

“Thank you, Lil’ J. Not many people would do something so weird for someone they’ve only known for a month, it means a lot to me.” Gavin realised he’d been holding the hug for probably a couple of seconds too long and stepped back, clearing his throat and hoping Jeremy wouldn’t notice the slight flush to his cheeks.

“Well, you looked after my wolf side for two days so I feel like we’re even on the weird errands side of things.” Jeremy offered and Gavin smiled gratefully, glad the other man was still joking with him instead of treating him any differently. He didn’t want to lose what he had with the werewolf.

Gavin was about to ask Jeremy if he wanted to come with him to check on how Ryan was doing when the man himself appeared out of his research room with several pieces of paper and his phone clutched in his hands. As the mage drew closer Gavin could make out the excited look on his face and grinned back, happy to see the previously exhausted man looking so chipper.

“Hey Ry, you look cheerful.” Gavin called out, the other man smiling over at him in a way which almost made him melt. “You find something good?”

“You could say that.” Ryan came to stand beside him, hooking a casual arm around his waist as though they’d been together for years rather than hours. “Everything go okay with your stuff? It sounded serious.” Concern laced Ryan’s words, the man offering Gavin a gentle squeeze as he spoke.

“It’s all okay, it’s a good thing really. I’ll tell you about it later.” He promised, smiling up at his new boyfriend, although there was something in the back of his mind nagging that the werewolf who was now stood several feet away looking excluded should have been pressed up to his other side.

As though Ryan had heard him, he glanced up to catch sight of Jeremy, offering the younger man a smile, “Sorry I didn’t ask before, I’d just woken up, but how did the recon go? I’m guessing there weren’t any major problems since you’re here and I could hear Michael through the wall?”

Jeremy jumped at being addressed, the slightly sad look on his face evaporating as Ryan’s attention transferred to him. “Oh! Yeah, it went okay, thanks. We only had to deal with one coven member, all the others were distracted with the spell.”

“Yeah, I saw.” Something darker came over the immortal’s expression. “I have some things I need to talk to Geoff about, but it’ll all just get passed onto you guys anyway so you may as well come with me if you’re free?” Gavin nodded immediately, the more he knew about what was going on the better he could prepare himself. And Jeremy copied him hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to hear the news Ryan bore. “Come on then.”

Ryan knocked on Geoff’s door three times, letting himself in before he heard an answer and trailing the pair behind him. “Geoff? I’ve looked over those pictures Michael sent me and I’ve got good news and bad news.”

Geoff groaned from behind his desk, “Well we’ll start with the bad first, may as well get it out of the way.” He ushered the group further into the room so that they were gathered around his desk.

Ryan took a breath, glancing over at Gavin before he continued. “There’s definitely more of them than we were expecting. I counted more than a dozen just in that picture. I think we’re going to have to be careful about how we play this.” The mage looked serious as he spoke, eyebrows turned downwards in worry.

“We’ll take it all into account when we make our plan of attack, thanks to the pictures and the information the lads gathered we know the basic layout, that’ll put us on even footing with them at least.” Geoff placated, glancing at the page of notes he’d had Michael write out earlier. “What’s the good news then? And it’d better be good as dicks, dude.”

Ryan chuckled quietly, some of his concerns allayed by Geoff’s confidence. “Well I had a look at the symbols and writing they used in their spell circle and I’ve been able to figure out some things which should help us.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense, Ry!” Gavin piped up from where he’d been standing silently, a note of pride in his voice at the other man.

“Fine, fine, calm down.” Ryan waved a hand at the vampire distractedly. “Basically, I’ve been able to figure out the exact time and date they are planning the summoning for, along with some other things too.”

Geoff perked up at his words, grinning brightly, “Ryan, you beautiful bastard! So when are they planning their shit for?”

“Eleven pm tonight, which should be fine for us, it’ll give us some time to plan how we’re going to do this.” Ryan smiled reassuringly at the others.

“Wait, so why would they have to do it at an exact time?” Jeremy asked curiously as he watched Geoff scribble down the time on his page of notes.

The immortal turned to him with an understanding smile, “It’s similar to what I was telling you about my tracking spell earlier, you have to block loopholes. But when the spell is being operated by multiple people those blocks have to be written within the circle along with the spell itself. By placing an exact time and date on the spell it’ll stop any discrepancies in timelines between the two planes as the summoned creature crosses.”

Gavin jumped in to explain in simpler terms. “Basically, time works differently in different planes, so it may travel faster or slower than ours. And because of that the summoned creature could end up being launched into the future if a specific arrival time isn’t set.” The Brit grinned at his explanation, Ryan looking on proudly.

Geoff looked up from his notes as they finished talking, watching Ryan expectantly, “Okay, so what else did you find out?”

“Well, I figured out why they needed all those spirits.” The mage answered flatly. “They’re using them almost as a sacrifice for Aeshma. Apparently the demon feeds on aggression and negative emotions, so they’ve been keeping them locked up, riling them up and causing them to be terrified, and then they’re going to offer them to the demon to help appease it. There’s a trap in the spell circle to keep them there until it arrives.”

“So is there a way we could let the spirits out?” Jeremy’s concerned voice added from where he’d taken a seat perched on the arm of one of Geoff’s chairs.

Ryan nodded, flicking through the pages he held quickly. “We should be able to, there are a couple of lines of the circle which need to be broken in sequence, but we should be able to get them all out safely.” The mage kept his eyes on Jeremy for a moment before looking away, “I figured out why they set up the aggression spell as well, they’ve been drawing in all the negative aggressive energy in the area to aid in bringing the right demon over. Apparently their new friend has a real thing for aggression.”

“Okay. Okay.” Geoff nodded to himself, glancing around at the gathered group. “We know the layout of the warehouse, we know what they’re planning to do and when they’re planning to do it. We should be able to get something resembling a plan out of all of this, we just need to work out the details.” The vampire looked down at the papers in front of him, sighing tiredly before continuing.

“I think it’s time to get everyone together and really nail down our plan of attack. Grab everyone you can, we’ll meet in the dining room in ten minutes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you thought? Have theories or anything? Let me know! Also if there are any characters who you are particularly interested in finding out the backstory of let me know, I'm trying to decide who needs a proper written backstory at the moment :)  
> So I've had a busy week, but I've finally managed to find a decent job, so hopefully there'll be a bit less stress in my future and I can really knuckle down and get some writing done!  
> Chapter 12 is up next Sunday, see you guys then


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12! Next chapter will be the last one, although there'll probably be an epilogue afterwards, and plenty of other stuff set in this universe in the future.  
> Hope you guys enjoy!

The car was silent apart from the clicking of Geoff periodically checking his gun. Gavin stared out of the window into the darkness of the passing forest, equally focused on preparing himself for the next few hours and pretending they weren't going to happen.

Sat beside him, Ryan looked on with concern, one of the vampire’s hands held gently in his own. He knew that Geoff had made their plan in order to keep Gavin out of the main fight as much as possible but worry still lanced through him at the idea of the Brit somehow being grabbed by the coven once again. He unconsciously gripped Gavin’s hand tighter and the man glanced over at him, offering him what he guessed the vampire thought was a confident smile.

Jeremy watched the pair out of the corner of his eye and had to fight down the urge to lean into Ryan’s side, or to lean across the mage and place a reassuring hand on Gavin’s shoulder. He resisted, knowing that even if something could happen between them in the future, now really wasn’t the time to start making advances on the two men.

Geoff and Jack snuck glimpses of the three men through the mirrors, occasionally exchanging withering looks at the trio’s hopelessness. It was difficult to focus on the possibility of (kind of) young love when every minute brought them closer to the chance that one of them wouldn’t make it out of this evening, but the chance of something positive happening in the future seemed much more attractive than the alternative.

Eventually they pulled into the same parking lot that Jeremy and Michael had discovered earlier that day, another car bearing everyone else pulling in behind them. Mica and Lindsay stepped out slowly before opening the back door to allow their passengers to tumble out in a heap.

“How the fuck do you take up so much space when you’re literally dead, Ray?!” Michael spat as he rolled his shoulder after their cramped car ride, Ray simply shrugged at him, although his poorly-disguised smirk let the changeling know he was getting way more amusement out of his screaming than he had any right to. “Goddamnit, Geoff! Why did I have to ride with these fucks instead of Gav? He’s so skinny he’d have fit no problem!” The lad grinned at his friend but Gavin found he couldn’t muster one in answer.

Geoff huffed at him, rolling his eyes at the lad’s antics, “It’s done now, Michael, maybe if you’re lucky someone’ll kick the bucket and there’ll be more space on the way back.” A chorus of nervous chuckles followed his words, although Michael simply pouted back at the vampire.

“Okay, chucklefucks, gather round and we’ll make sure we’re ready to go. We’ve only got one shot at this shit so we can’t fuck it up!” The group huddled together, happy for the slight cover against the chilly breeze which filtered through the trees.

“Alright, so everyone should know their teams and jobs, but let’s run this one more time. I’m teamed up with Gavin and we’ll be heading around the back entrance to provide ranged cover from the balcony.” He held his gun up with a grin before wrapping an arm around the older vampire.

Jack spoke up next, stepping into his place next to Jeremy. “Me and Jeremy are paired up and we’re going to be fucking shit up once the fighting starts.” Geoff nodded, accepting that the half-giant knew his role well enough to play it properly.

Ryan grinned from his position beside Michael. “Me and Michael are working together and we’re providing magic support from the ground.”

“Yeah, and I’m also going to make sure that Ryan doesn’t get fucked up before he can break the circle.” Michael stage whispered, the mage glancing over at him with a faux-hurt expression.

“And we’re” Lindsay motioned around her at Mica, Trevor and Matt, “going to be waiting outside for the signal in case you guys need backup.”

“Wait, what am I doing again?” Ray piped up from where he was leaning against Lindsay’s car, Geoff sighing at the ghost.

“I thought we went through this back at the house, Ray? Weren’t you paying attention?”

Ray huffed a laugh, “Dude, I found my DS, you could have been talking about fucking aliens for all I know, I had a gym leader to beat.”

Geoff forced himself to suppress an eye roll, “You’re going to be staying with the B team, we don’t want to risk you being pulled into the spell if something goes wrong.”

“Huh, cool.”

“Okay, if we’re all set we should probably start heading over, they should be starting to cast the spell soon.”

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin was plodding along at the back of the group, only his focus on the back of Michael’s head keeping him on the path with everyone else. He found himself deep in thought, attempting to run through the plan despite his drifting thoughts trying to drag him down into worry.

Michael glanced behind him at the sound of Gavin stumbling, one arm shooting out to steady his friend before he landed on his face. “Hey Gav, pay attention or you’re going to hurt yourself.” His voice was soft, only lightly scolding, but Gavin’s head shot up in shock at the sound of his voice.

“Oh, yeah, sorry Boi. Guess I’m a bit distracted…” He righted himself with Michael’s help, the changeling patting him on the shoulder gently as they continued on their way side by side.

“What’s up, Gav? You’ve seemed a bit spacey since this afternoon.” Michael was peering across at his friend in the dim light, trying to pinpoint the expression on the vampire’s face.

Gavin sighed heavily, slim shoulders rising and falling as he did so, “I just, I know what this coven is like. They’re prepared for everything; they’ll know that we’re coming no matter what we plan. And they’ll know to attack our weak links first and I’m just…” He ran a nervous hand through his hair, leaving it even messier than normal. “I’m worried that they’re going to go after Ryan. I mean it makes sense, for all intents and purposes he seems like just a normal human mage, and I know he’s immortal but he still gets hurt like a human and we never know what could be the thing which _can_ kill him and I just-”

Michael cut him off with a hand to his arm, pulling him to a stop despite them having already fallen behind the group. “Look, Gav, I get it, I do. But you need to remember that Ryan is definitely old enough to look after himself. He’s strong, he can do this.” Gavin still seemed worried so he punched him lightly in the shoulder, dragging the vampire’s eyes up to meet his own. “And if he can’t then I’ll be there to make sure he’s okay, and you’d never doubt me, right Boi?” He grinned as Gavin offered him a weak smile. “There we go. Now come on, we’ll lost the others.”

Michael slung an arm around Gavin’s shoulders and dragged him along, picking up the pace in an attempt to catch up with the group.

 

\-------------------

 

“Gavin, Michael, nice of you to join us.” Geoff huffed over at them, making a conscious effort to speak quietly with the warehouse so close.

“Man, you know Gavvy’s a klutz who falls over fucking everything, what did you think would happen if you made him walk through a forest at night?” Michael snarked, jabbing Gavin in his side with an elbow.

“Oi, Michael, why are you being mean, Michael?” Gavin pouted at the young changeling as he made his way to Geoff’s side, although before he turned his attention to the other vampire he was sure to flash Michael a grateful smile.

Geoff gathered the group together, careful to stay in the shaded cover of the trees in case any members of the coven happened to leave the warehouse. “Okay, so me and Gav will get in position first, we’ll check everything is in place then when the time comes we’ll give the signal to you guys by calling Jack’s phone.” Geoff held up his own phone in his hand in example. “Then you guys burst in and hopefully catch them by surprise, and whilst they’re focused on you, me and Gav will start picking them off from above.”

He looked over at where the B-team and Ray were gathered, “Lindsay, if we need your help we’ll call you in, but if you don’t hear anything from us I’ll leave it up to you what you do. If you think we need backup and can’t contact you feel free to come in too, just try and keep Ray back until we’re sure the spell isn’t going forward.”

“No problem, boss, I’ll keep this lot in check until you need them.” She tossed Geoff a cheesy salute and a more genuine smile. Glancing down at her watch she met Geoff’s gaze, “Are you guys ready to go? They’ll probably be starting soon.”

“I think so. Gav, you set, buddy?”

The Brit looked up from where he’d been fiddling with the holster on his belt, “Oh, yeah, ready. I just never got used to these bloody things…”

Jack chuckled, stepping forward to put Gavin’s holster to rights, “What, holsters?”

“No, guns. I just never had to deal with them until I came to this damn country with its obsession with the bloody things.” He grumbled, although they all noted that his hand subconsciously came to rest on the weapon, ready to use it as soon as he needed to.

“Alright then Gav, come on.” Geoff ushered the skinnier vampire ahead of him before turning back to the others one final time, “Don’t forget to listen for the signal, and don’t take stupid risks. See you idiots on the other side.” He hissed, flashing the group a grin before following Gavin. The pair slipped into the darkness easily, like coming home, and it wasn’t long before everyone had lost sight of the pair.

“Okay, let’s make sure we’re ready to go whenever the guys need us.” Jack spoke up, clapping his hands together lightly.

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin was making a conscious effort to ignore the fact that he was currently in the building which had housed his stolen organs and assorted body parts for several months, instead he was focusing on trying to make his way towards the balcony Michael and Jeremy had described before.

“For fucks sake, this would be so much easier if these assholes turned on a fucking light.” Geoff grumbled for the third time in the last minute. Even with his enhanced sight Gavin was having trouble working out where to go, one hand following the wall on his left whilst the other one was gripped in the back of Geoff’s jacket.

“Well I don’t think they were really planning on intruders when they decided to make this place pitch black, Geoffrey. And it’s not like we can just turn on a light.”

“Damnit, I should have asked Ryan to make one of those portable magic light things he does, that would be so great right now…” Geoff stumbled and cursed under his breath, glaring back at Gavin as he dared to laugh.

“Well I could always head back and grab one for you? It wouldn’t take a minute…” Gavin glanced over his shoulder longingly, honestly the idea of being close to the others and far away from this warehouse sounded like heaven to him right now.

“Oh no you don’t, Gav, you’re not running back to lover boy for protection. Anyway, we’re going to be in the safest spot in the whole warehouse as soon as we find where the fucking staircase is.” Geoff groaned, turning to look back at Gavin and subsequently falling backwards to land on a metal staircase.

The pair froze at the rumbling noise of Geoff’s back impacting with the stairs, waiting for the coven to react, probably sending a dozen witches after them and tearing them to bits. When no one came they relaxed, Gavin reaching down to offer Geoff a hand up with a chuckle. “Well at least we found the staircase?”

“Shut up, Gavin.” Geoff grumbled, staggering to his feet before casting a look up the staircase, a small shaft of light slipped through the door at the top. “Well, let’s get climbing, we’ve wasted enough time here already.”

Once they reached the top of the stairs Geoff looked back at Gavin, “Once we’re through we need to be as quiet as possible, we can’t have them knowing we’re there before we attack.” Gavin nodded, gesturing for the other man to open the door.

The pair had to fight through the sudden disorientation from the bright lights of the main warehouse, crouched low as they dashed on silent feet to the cover of the balcony. Settled in their position, Gavin peeked over the side. The bright red which painted the ground caught his eye immediately, the loops and symbols mesmerising in a disturbingly strange way. Dragging his eyes away from the circle he glanced at the coven members gathered around it before ducking back behind the partition with a muffled gasp.

“What, what happened? Did one of them see you?” Geoff hissed, voice pitched low as he reached out to place a steadying hand on Gavin’s arm.

“No, no, it’s just… There’re hags down there!”

“What? How the hell…?” Geoff chewed at his nail nervously before palming his phone. “Okay, I’m going to text the others to let them know, we can’t let them run in here oblivious. How many were there?”

“Just two, I think. I don’t know. Bloody hell…” Gavin groaned, head in his hands. “This isn’t going well.”

“It’ll be fine, I’ll just let Lindsay know to be prepared to jump in sooner and everything will work out okay in the end.” Geoff cast Gavin a tentative grin before looking back down at his phone, fingers flying as he typed. “Okay, they know. Now we just need to work out the best time to attack and-”

Sudden chanting from below had both of them stiffening in surprise, the volume dancing higher and lower as the foreign words drifted through the air. A shiver ran down Gavin’s spine, this felt wrong.

“Shit, okay. It might be showtime now…” Geoff groaned, peeping over the railing. “Fuck, okay, definitely showtime!” He looked down at his phone then across at Gavin who had one hand resting on his gun. “You ready, buddy?”

“I… um…” The older vampire looked shaky, eyes suddenly wide and voice stuttering, but he forced it down, this needed to be done. “Yes. I’m ready.” He nodded decisively.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Geoff nodded back, pressing send on Jack’s call.

 

\-------------------

 

The group gathered outside were on edge, constantly ready to jump into action at Geoff’s call or at anything which sounded off inside the warehouse. So when the jingling text tone sounded, Jack had to admit that he jumped just a little. “Fuck! Okay, this wasn’t part of the plan.” He looked down at his phone, the text from Geoff lighting up his screen in the darkness of the forest.

_WARNING 2 hags inside, be careful, warn others_

“What?” Jack re-read the words, it still meaning very little to him. The entire team was watching him with baited breath, eyes wide as they waited for the signal. “Ryan, come here.”

The mage stepped forwards, concern written across his face, “What’s up?”

“Do you know much about hags?” Jack asked warily, the grip on his phone strong as he turned it to show the other man.

“Ah, yeah, and this isn’t good news…” The immortal drifted off, reading the text over again before speaking up. “Hags are long-term magic users who have been twisted through the prolonged use of dark magic. For all intents and purposes they’re immortal, and their powers over dark magics are stronger than almost any other type of magic user.” He sighed, “If they’ve got hags in their numbers then we’ve got our work cut out for us. This isn’t going to be an easy fight.”

He glanced over at where Lindsay stood beside Michael, concern written across her face, “Lindsay, we’re almost definitely going to need you guys’ help so you should be on standby, as close as possible.” Lindsay nodded, subconsciously reaching out to brush her fingers across Michael’s. “Guys, we should be ready to go any-”

The muted ringing of Jack’s phone cut his words off, dragging everyone’s attention to the half-giant.

“It’s Geoff.” Jack murmured, eyes locked on the screen with a frown. “Time to go.”

The decisive words jumped them into action, the four in the lead team gathering themselves for a moment before heading in the direction of the warehouse doors.

They tried to keep their movements quiet but as they moved closer to the building it became apparent that that was not necessary. Loud chanting could be heard from inside, the voices lilting in a way which crawled up their spines and left their skin pricked with goosebumps. Exchanging concerned looks they took their places beside the double doors, Jack and Jeremy ready to lead the charge.

“Okay guys, don’t forget the plan. Our goal here is to stop the summon, taking out the coven is secondary.” Jack received three dark looks to his whispered words. “Fine, do what you want, just make sure we stop the spell too. Now are we ready?”

The answering nods had him grinning menacingly. “Awesome, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight scene incoming, let's hope I remember how to write them well!  
> Sorry this one's a bit shorter than usual, I just didn't want to make the last chapter too long or too short so this seemed like the best place to cut it.  
> But yeah, if you've got any theories over what's going to happen in the fight throw them at me, I'd love to hear them :)  
> Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know what you think


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh, it's the final proper chapter! Sorry it's a little late guys, but between the hecticness of the lead up to christmas, possibly starting a new job, being ill for three days and this chapter being longer than I planned (almost 5000 words) it kind of took me longer than I planned to write and edit. But never mind, it's up now!   
> So anyway, I won't give anything away, but hopefully you enjoy and don't hate me too much at the end!

Gavin watched from the balcony, fingers clenched tight around his gun, as the spell below them continued. Waiting for the others to arrive was taking much longer than he would have expected, although his perception of time was probably twisted by the tight anxiety running through his frame.

Seven people were gathered within the circle, their chanting louder than those of the coven-members crowding around the outside, one of the two hags stood at the head of the circle leading the spell. Below her feet a smoke-like substance was beginning to weave through the air, although Gavin knew that if he stood closer to the circle he would be able to see the agonised faces of the trapped spirits.

Imagining Ray in that situation had him shuddering so he shut down that train of thought before it could properly form and instead turned his eyes towards the double doors he knew the others would be bursting through any minute. The chanting was beginning to leave chills up his spine and he forced himself to relax, pushing his emotions away until they could put all this bullshit behind them.

The sound of the door crashing open made him jump, eyes darting to where Jeremy and Jack were now lit against the darkness outside. Some distant part of him noted the stutter in the coven’s chanting, a few voices petering off in shock as they turned to face the intruders.

He saw when the other hag, an older man wrapped in robes and bent nearly in half by age, stepped forwards. He spoke some words which were covered by the renewed chanting, Jeremy’s fists balling at whatever he was saying to them. A huge part of him was screaming to get out there, that now that the others were here they should be fighting, but as he moved to stand Geoff shot one arm out to pull him back down.

“Not yet, you idiot! We need the element of surprise when they attack.” Gavin frowned but accepted the younger vampire’s words, hunkering down for the first sign of fighting.

 

\-------------------

 

Jeremy didn’t know what he was expecting when they entered the warehouse, but it definitely wasn’t to end up in a conversation with a man who looked like he had spent the last twenty years melting.

“Ah, it’s kind of you to finally arrive, we’ve been waiting.” The man’s voice was gravelly, grinding against Jeremy’s nerves like sandpaper the longer he spoke. “We really wouldn’t be able to complete the ritual without the final piece of the spell and here you are delivering it to us.” The saccharine smirk he cast their way forced a dark chill up Jeremy’s spine, his wolf howling for a chance to get at this man.

“What the hell do you mean? We’re here to stop your spell one way or the other, so if you have any sense of self-preservation you’ll step away from the circle and stop the chanting.” Jack’s face was set in a heavy frown as he peered down at the much smaller man, but Jeremy could feel the waves of tension rolling off of the half-giant.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that, for the sake of mages everywhere we need to complete our ritual and summon our lord Aeshma. He will bring his dark forces here and smite those who would stand in our way, starting with you and your pitiful group of misfits.” Behind him the chanting suddenly dropped in volume, now a muffled hum which permeated the room as the other hag turned away to collect something from a table behind her.

She held a knife high above her head, intricate patterns dancing along the shining silver as she did so. Her voice reminded Jeremy of a bird of prey as she screeched in the direction of the ceiling, “Dark Lord Aeshma! Hear us and join us! Help us in bringing down those who would fight against us! We offer you our gifts!”

A young woman stood behind her handed her something wrapped in a wine-red cloth. Tearing the cloth away she held a heart high, the light catching it in such a way as to cause it to shimmer with every colour of the rainbow. “Aeshma, take our offering of something pure, the heart of a unicorn, ripped from it as it still lived!” Plunging the dagger into the organ and tearing it open, a splash of blood spurted across the ground, staining the concrete a deep, almost-purple, red.

Tossing the heart to the centre of the circle she reached back for the next covered item, tearing the cloth away to reveal a huge eyeball which barely fit in her hand. The eye stared out at the crowd of witches and, although the colours were dimmed by death, Jeremy could tell it was once a striking shade of bright blue. “Take this, the eye of an immortal one, blessed with an endless life as you are. The eye of a Deep One who has seen civilisations rise and fall!” As her knife hit the eyeball a spurt of dark fluid flooded out, drenching her hand and the ground around her.

She raised her hands high as she screamed to the heavens, “We offer you the suffering souls of many, tormented and trapped for you to use as you wish!” A distorted scream lanced through the room as the souls trapped within the circle began to move more erratically, as though trying to escape.

“And, finally we offer you one of like mind! A dark creature with no hope for redemption and driven to madness!” Making a fist she turned away from the centre of the circle, head tilted back as she stared at where, Jeremy realised with horror, Gavin and Geoff were hiding. “Come here, little vampire, we have need of you.” Her words practically dripped from her lips as a cry was raised from the balcony.

A figure was lifted into the air as though by an invisible hand, seemingly shocked into stillness by their sudden flight. The dimness up on the balcony made it difficult to see what was happening, although Jeremy caught a glimpse of another figure reaching up to drag whoever was caught back towards them.

His attention was torn away from the scene by a rage-induced shout from behind him, Michael sprinting past him with Ryan on his heels in the direction of the crowd of magic-users. “Not again, you sons of bitches! I’ll tear you to pieces!” Michael’s voice was trembling as flames burst from his closed fists, a dark grin splitting his face as he slammed his fist against one of the witch’s cheeks.

Jeremy barely tore his eyes away from the sight, only for his attention to be caught by Ryan instead. The immortal was stood a few feet behind Michael, eyes clenched shut and lips streaming with words Jeremy had no hope of following. As he looked on, wicked looking shards of ice formed around the man, all pointed outwards and glinting evilly. The rumble of the man’s laughter sent a shiver down Jeremy’s spine when he heard it, Ryan releasing the spikes into the crowd of coven-members with glee as the charged towards him.

His focus was torn from the pair as he was hit in the side, one of the mages tackling him down to the ground and hovering a sharp-looking dagger above his face. He couldn’t help but grin at the man’s attempts, knocking him away with a dark laugh before rolling back to his feet.

“You may want to rethink what you’re doing.” He suggested coolly as he circled the man. He could feel his knuckles cracking and his muscles shifting subtly as he allowed his wolf to stalk to the surface. When the mage didn’t back down he grinned, “More fun for me then.” And leapt.

 

\-------------------

 

Gavin guessed he should be forcing down panic right now, but instead he simply felt a molten rage bubbling beneath the surface and threatening to explode from within him at any moment. He hung over the balcony, watching as Geoff was pulled away from him, the other man near-limp as he was carried through the air by an invisible force. His body was dropped before the hag, eyes wide as he scrambled to his feet and into a defensive position, but he was pushed back and held to the ground by that same force, struggling against it as the hag came to stand over him, dagger held high.

It felt like the room froze, he took in the sight of the others fighting to get to the circle; fire and ice whirling around each other as Ryan and Michael fought side-by-side, claws and eyes flashing where Jeremy tore through the crowd, Jack’s fists flying furiously with a poorly suppressed rage which rivalled even Gavin’s own. But of everyone in the room his eyes were always pulled back to Geoff, moustache frayed and sweat dripping from his forehead as that damn blood-and-fluid-soaked dagger hung above him threateningly.

And suddenly Gavin was stepping off the balcony, no consideration for himself. He landed low, knees bent and one hand out to steady himself, but took no time to take in his surroundings before long strides were eating up the distance between himself and his spawn, pulse pounding louder in his ears the closer he drew.

If he could see himself from the outside he would have paused, likely barely recognising the nervous, scared man he’d been reduced to less than a year ago. His eyes were blazing a pure gold, mouth wide and glinting fangs sharp. But it was something in the way he moved which cast him so apart from the others in the room and struck them suddenly silent, all turning to watch the dangerous creature suddenly in their midst.

He walked with purpose, he walked as a hunter, a predator, as someone with something to protect.

Reaching out he clasped the hag’s shoulder, tossing the pitiful creature behind him without a care before inspecting his spawn.

“Gav, what…?” The younger vampire stuttered, drained and confused as he looked up into the face of his sire.

“Stay.” Gavin growled before turning away, unhappy that threats surrounded him but recognising the hag as the greatest of those threats. He stared down the woman with a sneer, hands clenching at his side. “ _How dare you take what is mine?_ ” His words echoed around the room as he forced all of his mental power into them. A smug part of his mind noted that several of the lesser-mages in the area backed away from him nervously.

The hag seemed to shrug off an immaterial burden from her shoulders, “But do you not remember, little vampire? You are not even your own, you belong to us. To be used as we wish!” She cackled, although he could feel fear teasing the edges of her words.

“ _You think I belong to you? You foolish child! You greatly overestimate your power and your worth!”_ Now that he could feel his spawn calming behind him he stepped forwards threateningly, head tilting to one side. “ _It fascinates me that you humans always believe your little tricks make you  more powerful than those around you. True, you managed to capture me last time, but were we to fight one on one, were I to use my true powers, I would crush you beneath my heel.”_ He grinned, eyes flashing violently. “ _If you knew true power you would not need the assistance of demons, you would not hide behind the occult waiting to see whether the one you call your lord will simply grind you to dust and leave you to rot.”_

“Our lord Aeshma would never do that! He supports our cause; he is our lord!” The hag’s voice was shrill as she screeched at him, refusing to accept Gavin’s words.

_“Rarely do the words of ants affect the actions of kings. And that is what you are to him, an ant. In fact, that is what you are to me, to him you are likely dust, or perhaps a light breeze.”_ He stopped moving when he was stood just before the hag, one hand raised to clutch her throat and her eyes popping at him in panic. “ _Your words mean nothing to him, much as you mean nothing to him. Much as you mean nothing to me.”_ The feeling of squeezing the life from such an evil creature was exhilarating and when he dropped the body to the ground Gavin sighed happily. _“One less ant to bother me.”_

A sudden pain in his side had him staggering, head whipping round as one hand slipped down to grab for whatever hit him. A wave of dizziness washed over him as he locked eyes with the hag’s assistant, the pretty young woman’s face twisted into the facsimile of a smile as she waved a light-weight crossbow at him. Gavin groaned as he ripped the shaft from his side, the sound of blood splattering across the ground piercing the silence.

He froze in realisation, his anger cooling slightly to be replaced with fear. “Geoff, get out of the circle.” His voice was quiet but he knew the other vampire would hear him. When he heard no movement from behind him he spun around, willingly putting his back to the witch to make eye contact with Geoff. “Go!”

Geoff scrambled to his feet, eyes locked on Gavin as he did so. Gavin could hear chanting starting up behind him and figured they didn’t have much time. With mages gathered around the sides of the circle he was forced to search for an opening, pressing against Geoff’s back to push him towards escape.

Dim lights sparked to life around the perimeter of the circle and the Brit forced himself to give one final push to his friend’s back, shoving him outside the circle barely a second before shining walls blocked their escape.

“Gavin! You idiot!” Geoff had spun on his heel once he’d landed, lashing out to his sides in an attempt to take out one of the mages which were holding the spell. Barriers blocked his attacks and he whirled to take out another mage who was trying to approach him from behind. “RYAN! Get over here!” It was most definitely an order, Geoff’s eyes darting back to where the other vampire seemed to be holding a less than amicable conversation with the hag’s assistant.

Turning back to the room at large it appeared that all the excitement of the last few minutes had drawn all of the others to him instead of just Ryan. From the corner of his eye he just barely caught the B team sneaking in through the warehouse’s open door, luckily remaining unnoticed as they took up positions in the shadows of the walls. He turned to Ryan as he paused by his side, taking in the walls which blocked their access to Gavin.

“Do you think you can take it down?” Geoff’s voice was barely audible above the mages’ chanting, but Ryan seemed to catch his meaning.

“I can, it’ll take a few minutes and some concentration though.” Ryan already seemed to be sizing up the barrier, running a hand an inch away from the light with a look of concentration planted on his face.

“No problem.” Glancing around he caught sight of Jeremy to one side, eyeing up a particularly well-built mage who was getting ready to attack. “Jeremy, I need you to watch Ryan whilst he tries to bring down the barrier. Don’t let anyone get at him.” The werewolf’s face was uncharacteristically serious, taking his place at Ryan’s back and allowing his eyes to scan their surroundings.

“Alright boys, time to cause some mayhem.” Geoff grinned, his vampire instincts screaming for him to tear and bite and rend flesh from bone. To destroy.

For once he allowed his instincts to lead him, tossing himself into the fray.

 

\-------------------

 

An all too familiar fogginess had taken over Gavin’s sight, whatever he had been injected with when he was first captured obviously also present on the bolt he currently clutched in his hand. A wave of dizziness crashed over him but he refused to let himself slip, instead focusing a scathing glare in the direction of the hag’s assistant.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” The words felt heavy as they slipped from his lips despite him pushing his façade of power back to the surface, showing weakness now would get him nowhere, these people didn’t know what mercy meant.

The mage scoffed, taking a step towards him with a smirk, “We have use of you. You are the oldest vampire in the area; there is great power in your blood and we intend to make the most of it.” She cocked her head to one side, looking over his shoulder curiously. “It seems like your friends are trying to release the shield spell, I’d suggest against it but I suppose they will do as they wish. It will be too late for you anyway.”

There was something about this woman which had Gavin’s skin crawling, it had taken a moment to fully grasp it but it came to him now, that voice, it was- “It’s you! You’re the one who-!”

“Who carved you to pieces? Very observant, I’m impressed, I thought you were too out of it to recognise me. Although I have to say, I was a _little_ hurt that you didn’t, after all, we spent _so_ much time together.” The woman moved like a cat stalking a mouse, making a large circle around Gavin and forcing him to turn with her to follow her movements.

“How can you think this is okay?! You’d destroy so many people, their homes, their families! How can you think it’s alright to sacrifice all that for power?” Gavin’s voice was low, growling, as he tried his best to stall the start of the summon spell. “You’re a monster!”

“No! They’re the monsters!” A whirl of bright blonde hair accompanied the mage’s head snapping towards him, eyes blazing as she screeched. “We’ve been forced to hide in the shadows for too long, we’ve been called freaks and demons for our powers! I did not spend so long learning the arts just to skulk in the background and make trinkets for people who don’t even believe in my existence! I am a higher power and _I deserve respect_!”

Gavin refused to back down from her tirade even when she was practically pressed up against his front, screaming her words in his face. Instead, he simply planted his hands on her shoulders and pushed with all his might. She skidded across the ground, ending up in a pile on the floor beside the fallen body of the hag.

“What I don’t understand is how you can be okay with sacrificing your own coven to get what you want? Surely everyone here is in the same boat as you, and at least you can walk down the street and pass as a human.” His eyes were locked on the hag, not sad that he killed her per say, but perhaps upset that there had to be any killing at all.

“She was a selfish bitch and a foul old wretch, she wanted nothing but her own power. As long as she was in charge I would never taste the true strength of our lord!” The mage struggled to her feet, glaring at Gavin. “Although I do have to thank you for taking care of her for me, it saved me a lot of trouble.” She kicked at the crumpled corpse, sneering down at the figure, “But now I do have to deal with you instead, which is really more trouble than it’s worth…”

The woman swayed towards him, and if it had not been for the situation and the crazed look in her eyes Gavin would have almost said she was beautiful. As it was she looked like something out of a horror story, blood soaking her clothes, hair in disarray and a long scratch marring her face.

A sudden wave of loud noise from the outside hit him, head spinning around against his better judgement to take note of the barrier slowly dropping. He could see the others outside the bubble, some still fighting whilst Ryan and Jeremy stood impatiently, waiting to get to him. The sudden look of shock and panic which dashed across their faces had him whirling back around, but not fast enough.

The stinging bite of silver in his abdomen didn’t register at first, but as the mage twisted and _pushed_ the knife deeper Gavin let out a deep groan, feeling a rush of blood soaking his already blood-soaked shirt.

The woman grinned, her eyes sparkling with madness as she leaned in to whisper to him. “You may have thwarted us this time, but we are a multi-armed beast. We have factions across the country, across the world, and they will continue our work. And we have you in our sights now, _Mr Free_ , you shall be hearing from us again.” Her hissed words were cut off as a vaguely familiar, bulky figure hit her in the side, tearing her away from Gavin and allowing him to slump to the ground, one arm cradling his stomach.

The figure which suddenly appeared before him should have had him jumping back but he found that he didn’t have the energy for it, his earlier rage and his injuries draining him of everything he had. As it turned out, any fear was unwarranted because he glanced up into Ray’s concerned face.

“Hey there, Vav, you doing okay?” The ghost’s voice was light but Gavin could see his worry between his deeply furrowed brows and smiled up at his friend reassuringly.

“Yeah, of course, X-ray, I’m top! Or I will be just as soon as the room stops spinning…”

Ray’s wry grin back at him had him chuckling, “Well, of course. Superheroes never admit weakness.” He struck a little pose from where he crouched before Gavin and the vampire grinned up at him.

The noises of fighting around them had begun to die down. Gavin cast a look around the room, taking note that thankfully everyone in their group seemed to have gotten out with minimal injuries, although Matt and Trevor seemed slightly scorched. “Can you help me up?” He mumbled to Ray, reaching a hand out to his younger friend.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Ray jumped to his feet and wrestled Gavin to standing, steadying the vampire when he began to sway slightly. “You good?” The Brit nodded, more focused on everyone else in the room as they began to converge around his location.

Ryan came straight towards him, tutting over his injuries before looping one arm around his waist to help prop him up. It probably shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was, when Jeremy came up to his other side. He wasn’t as casual as Ryan had been, didn’t assume that he had a place at the vampire’s side, but the offer was there and Gavin gladly took it, slinging his other arm across the werewolf’s shoulders.

“Aw, my boys coming to help me.” He couldn’t help but grin as Jeremy tensed shyly beside him, but he rested his head against Ryan’s shoulder anyway, taking comfort in how close they stood.

“Oi, Gav! I thought I was your Boy?!” Michael’s mock-hurt voice dragged his attention back to the others who were now stood around the trio in various states of bemusement.

Gavin straightened up, attempting to put his weight back on his own two legs. “Well yeah, Michael, you’re my Boi, but they’re my Boys, simply, innit?” He grinned at the changeling’s confused expression, hissing when Ryan jabbed him with a long finger.

“Don’t pick on him, it’s been a long night.”

“Well don’t jab me in my crossbow hole either, that’s not nice Ryan!” Gavin pouted at him, although in all honesty the adrenaline in his veins was stopping him from really feeling the pain.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry Gav, I didn’t know! Let me have a look.” Ryan fussed around him, trying to lift his shirt to get a proper look at his wound even as Gavin argued that he was fine, Jeremy on his other side attempting to hold him still whilst laughing at the pair.

A soft laugh from the group drew Gavin's attention away from the two men. Ray was smiling sadly at them, eyes wet as he watched on.

“Hey, X-Ray, what’s up?” He took a careful step forward, but when he managed to stand without too much trouble he crossed the final few steps quickly to pause before the Puerto Rican. The younger man grinned up at him before holding one hand in front of Gavin’s face.

“I’m fading.”

The words seemed to strike everyone silent, their focus suddenly on the young ghost.

“What? No!” Gavin tried to grab at his friend but his hand just passed through, there was some resistance but it felt like running his hand through water.

“Sorry, Gav. I guess all that bullshit about unfinished business was true after all…” Ray looked around at the group, it was obvious that he didn’t have long from how quickly he was fading.

Ryan stepped forwards, hooking a comforting arm around Gavin’s shoulders. One of Jeremy’s hands drifted towards his, fingers brushing but staying mostly out of the conversation. Having not known Ray before he felt like he was trespassing in some way.

“Maybe now that you’ve seen justice done your spirit is ready to rest?” Ryan offered, glancing around at the rest of the group. Michael and Lindsay were stood close together, and Matt and Trevor were bunched around Mica comfortingly. Geoff and Jack stood to one side, although fat tears rolled down Geoff’s face. They all knew this was coming, ghosts couldn’t stay in this world for long before they started to break down. Really this was better than watching their friend go slowly mad, but it still wasn’t easy by any definition of the word.

“Yeah, maybe.” Ray scanned the group, “You guys keep kicking ass, right? And you,” He focused on the vampire that stood stone-faced before him. “You look after yourself, Vav.” He glanced over Gavin’s shoulder, catching first Ryan’s and then Jeremy’s eye and smiling encouragingly.

Ray was fading fast; at any other time, someone would have cracked a joke about how Ray had always been this pale but it didn’t seem right. It was an anticlimactic end to a life which should have lasted much longer, and as the final hints of their friend faded away everyone seemed to take a breath simultaneously, fighting back the emotions which ran through them.

It was silent in the warehouse for a few minutes, heads bowed in respect for what they had lost. Surprisingly it was Geoff that managed to speak up first, stepping forwards with a grim smile. “Okay guys, we can mourn back at the house. For now, we have work to do.” He clapped his hands together, the sharp noise snapping through the silence like a whip. “Lindsay, Trevor, you go and get the cars, bring them 'round to the warehouse.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Lindsay’s voice was subdued, but she still offered Geoff a small smile, motioning for Trevor to follow her after trailing her fingers across Michael's comfortingly.

“Ryan, can you get to work on disassembling this circle. Remember, the most important thing is to free those souls.”

“Uh, sure thing.” Ryan tottered away, eyes drifting across Gavin and Jeremy as he left.

Geoff continued giving people jobs, planning the clean-up of the building and making sure that Jack called their contact at the police department to go through the details of the night. Gavin heard very little of it however, the blood rushing to his head with a roar all of a sudden and pushing him to stagger slightly to one side. Luckily Jeremy caught him around the waist, lowering him to the ground with hands coated in rapidly-drying blood. Gavin found that he didn’t mind, he was practically soaked in blood anyway.

Geoff’s hesitant footsteps halted before them and he crouched down to make eye contact with Gavin. “Gavvers, you alright in there.”

Gavin grunted in reply, not feeling up to speech but making sure to let Geoff know with a look that he’d be fine.

“Okay, you two just stay here. I’d rather have someone keeping an eye on you just in case something goes wrong. We’ll sort everything out and then head on home, yeah?” Geoff's soft voice slipped into his mind, at some point he’d closed his eyes.

He could hear Geoff and Jeremy speaking for a moment more, but the words were distant. Finally accepting the physical, mental and emotional fatigue he felt he slipped into sleep with Jeremy wrapped around him, warmed by the prospect of home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's that then.   
> Yeah, hopefully you guys don't hate me too much, I know I got a few comments about Ray's possible fate so sorry about that ... But I'll share a little bit of between the lines stuff with you, just to mess with you some more. SO, I really wanted to get this into the main story but it wasn't fitting properly without feeling forced in so I just sort of hinted at it, but Ray's unfinished business wasn't to seek justice for himself. I wonder if you guys can work out what it was? :P   
> But, we're not done with this story yet, and definitely not done with the universe! There will be an epilogue going up sometime in the next week (I'm going to try for Sunday, but since it's christmas I can't guarantee it) and then I'll probably start uploading Gavin's backstory in the new year! 
> 
> I'd really appreciate any feedback on this chapter, honestly. It's been a while since I've written the end of a longer story like this and I want to get better! So thank you in advance for anyone who leaves a comment!   
> And Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you guys if I don't post the epilogue on xmas, hope you all have a great time and eat too much food!


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the epilogue, I'm kind of sad to see it end... But it's definitely not over!! There's more to come in the new year!  
> Decided to upload this today instead of on the traditional Sunday, since I'm not sure if I'll be able to on Christmas and I had it all done. It's a little shorter than usual but I think it's a nice little wrap up (Despite me somehow managing to add more characters at the last minute...)   
> Anyway! Enjoy!

Ryan had taken to pacing the edges of the circle, occasionally reaching to rub out a line or string of symbols. The others knew that this was a delicate procedure so resisted bothering him, but he still couldn’t help but glance up every now and then to check the spot where Jeremy had carried Gavin.

The pair now sat propped up against the wall, the vampire wrapped around the werewolf, arms like a vice as he pressed his face close to the younger man’s throat. Despite the innate risk of having a vampire at his neck Jeremy seemed relaxed as he waited for the others to be ready to leave, running his hand through the Brit’s ruffled hair as he kept watch over the sleeping man.

Ryan rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders as he forced himself to crouch once again, the sudden urge to curl up in his bed hitting him as he ran his hand over yet another line of text, the foreign words evaporating into the air as though they’d never been there in the first place. Casting a look around him, he counted the lines left; just one more and then the release spell and he’d be done.

Stomping over to the final line, a ring which enclosed the containment circle, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

“Michael, what’s up?” His voice was rougher than usual, ground down by the number of spells he’d used in the last few hours.

“Oh, uh, Geoff wanted to know if you’re almost done? We’re pretty much finished with clean-up for now.” The changeling stuttered out, eyes bright as he watched the mage shift around the circle.

“Almost, a couple more minutes maybe.” He smiled at the younger man, knowing the curiosity which burned in him whenever he had an opportunity to learn how magic worked, even if he had been blessed with an innate ability to control it. “Would you like to watch? I’m about to release the circle.” Ryan offered, a slight grin on his lips as he watched the lad’s eyes light up, nodding and settling beside the circle.

Ryan turned away to dismiss the final line holding the containment circle in place; with it gone he suddenly felt a breeze emanating from the agitated souls within the circle. Setting a determined look on his face he raised his hands before bringing them down hard against the concrete. A gust of wind blew past him and suddenly dozens of tiny lights lit the area, each twinkling gently before finally winking out of existence.

He let out a sigh, finally giving himself permission to feel the exhaustion which had been leaking into his bones since the fighting ended. Turning back to Michael he found the lad smiling softly before offering him a hand up. He took it gratefully, wrestling himself to his feet with the lad’s help before taking in the room at large.

Most of the bodies had been moved to one side, ready to be collected and processed by the police as soon as the necessary people got here; not far from them was a huddle of mages who had either given up or been knocked out at some point in the fight, waiting to find out their fate. A number of bags sat to one side, surely filled with magical contraband to be taken back to the house and placed in storage.

Most of their team was gathered near where Jeremy and Gavin sat, waiting for everything to be sorted out before they could leave and get some well-deserved rest. Geoff and Jack seemed to be talking to a man in a suit, Burnie, their main liaison with the police department.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” The quiet voice from his side almost made Ryan jump. He turned to look at Michael, eyes following his gaze to where Gavin slept peacefully. “I’ve never seen him do anything like that before…”

Ryan frowned, neither had he. “I’m sure he’ll be fine; it was probably just a vampire thing…” The memory of Gavin with his eyes blazing so brightly, his voice booming against the silence of the warehouse, was carved into Ryan’s mind. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least slightly concerned, there were stories of vampires going mad in old age, giving in to their instincts and just losing themselves to bloodlust.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s Gavin! He’s an idiot, but…” Michael seemed to be trying for positive but fell just short, concern still tainting his words.

“He’s _our_ idiot.” Ryan grinned. If the others couldn’t stay positive then he’d do it for them, it was the least he could do.

Geoff and Jack broke away from Burnie, turning towards the group. “Okay guys, we’re all good, time to head home and get some fucking sleep.”

Relieved sighs met Geoff’s words, everyone leaving to filter into the cars. Michael stayed stonily quiet about the extra space in the back of Lindsay’s car as they set off.

Jeremy manoeuvred Gavin into the centre of the back seat, leaning him against Ryan’s shoulder as he buckled him in before shimmying in beside him. The sleepy vampire seemed to have woken up slightly at all the jostling, burying his face into Ryan with a moan, “Urgh, wake me up when we get home.” He easily slipped back into sleep, face relaxing slowly.

Jeremy and Ryan shared a look, grinning over the older man’s head before settling in for the drive home.

 

\-------------------

 

“Oi, Gav, come on.” Ryan shook the vampire gently, receiving a few choice mumbled words. “Come on, get up. Griffon’s here to take a look at you before you slip into a coma again.” That had the Brit perking up, suspiciously suddenly awake.

“Griffon’s here?” Gavin grinned, allowing himself to be helped out of the car with minimal complaints.

“Yeah, Geoff called her when we were at the warehouse. I don’t really think you need it though; I think he was just using you as an excuse to see her again.” Ryan snickered.

Jeremy shut the car door behind them, jogging slightly to catch up. “Wait, who’s Griffon?”

“Griffon is Geoff’s _lady friend_ , she’s a druid and travels around a lot but we can usually get her to come back if someone is seriously injured.”

“Yeah, and Geoff starts pouting if he goes more than three months without seeing her!” Gavin giggled before groaning and clutching at his stomach. “Ow.”

Ryan shook his head at the vampire. “Idiot. Come on.”

Letting themselves into the house yielded a hallway filled with people, everyone gathered around one unfamiliar blonde woman in the centre. “Ah, our wounded has arrived! Ryan can I borrow your office?” She stepped around Geoff to take a closer look at Gavin, the lad grinning at her.

“Hey Griff!”

“Hey Gav. Ryan, room?” she looked up at the mage expectantly, pointing in the direction of Ryan’s research room.

“Oh yeah, of course, follow me.” He led the woman away, Gavin still draped slightly over him as he staggered down the hallway. Jeremy jumped to follow them, casting the group behind him a look as he left, Jack consoling Geoff even as a grin split his face.

Closing the door behind him, Jeremy turned to see Gavin perched on the table, Griffin watching him with a raised eyebrow.

“Gav, why is it always you?” She sighed, glancing over his wounds. “I suppose at least it isn’t so bad this time. Shirt off.” Her tone left no room for argument, Gavin pulling his blood-soaked and tattered t-shirt over his head to reveal a pattern of bright scars coated in a liberal layer of blood.

Jeremy put the scars from his mind for now, focusing instead on the jagged stab wound just below the vampire’s lowest ribs and the pin-prick like hole in his side.

“Okay, what are we working with here?” Griffon looked him over slowly, prodding and poking whilst purposefully ignoring Gavin’s complaints. “Doesn’t look too bad, I’ll clean out the wounds and maybe stitch up that stab wound. I’m guessing it was silver or something?” She examined the slight burns around the stab wound with a critical eye.

“Uh, yeah, I think so?” Ryan spoke softly from beside Jeremy, making him jump in surprise before casting the man a look and receiving an apologetic one in return.

“Alright then, this won’t take a moment.” Griffon’s hands began to glow softly, the white light gentle in the dim room.

“Wow.” Jeremy muttered as he watched the poison bubble out of Gavin’s crossbow wound seemingly on its own, gathering on the surface before dissipating into the air. She waved a hand over the stab wound and the edges seemed to begin knitting themselves back together.

“Cool, huh?” Ryan grinned at him. “Druids aren’t like mages; they have innate magic like changelings because they’re descended from nymphs. And they have a natural connection to healing magic which surpasses almost any learned-mage I’ve ever heard of.”

“I can hear you, you know?” Griffon piped up from where she was focused on Gavin’s stab wound, the edges seeming less irritated already.

“Oh, sorry.” Ryan stuttered.

“Oh no, please keep singing my praises, I’m loving it.” She grinned up at them, one eyebrow quirked before turning back to inspect her work. “There that should hold you.”

“Cheers Griffon.” Gavin hopped down from the table, only staggering slightly as he sauntered over to insinuate himself between the other two men.

“Anything for my favourite vampire.” She grinned, eyes flashing with amusement.

“Don’t let Geoff hear you say that, he’ll be crushed.” Gavin and Griffon shared a conspiratorial look, both laughing softly.

Griffon finally cast a look over the three of them. Ryan had casually slung an arm around Gavin’s waist and Jeremy was brushing his fingers gently against the vampire’s, as though fighting the urge to hold his hand. “You know, I have a feeling he doesn’t have any reason to be jealous anymore, anyway.” She smirked at the trio, Jeremy flushing bright red whilst Ryan grumbled about meddlers and Gavin simply grinned.

 

\-------------------

 

The house had remained silent for the rest of the day, everyone retreating to their rooms to rest until the late afternoon. Geoff had declared that they deserved a day off and that anything other than an absolute emergency would be ignored until the next morning. Since they hadn’t received any word everyone assumed there’d been no emergencies.

Gavin, Jeremy and Ryan had somehow managed to all fit into Ryan’s bed, although Gavin was mostly sprawled across the other two, acting as a secondary blanket as they slept. Unsurprisingly, Gavin had dropped off quickly, with Jeremy close behind, but even with all the excitement of the day and the pull of exhaustion at his mind Ryan found that sleep evaded him for a little while longer. Instead he was content to lie with the other two men, one hand resting on Gavin’s back whilst the other combed through Jeremy’s hair.

He must have drifted off at some point because the next thing he knew the room was pitch black and the sounds of talking could be heard from outside in the hallway. Shifting groggily, his fingers brushed against another body and he glanced over to find Jeremy and Gavin curled close together. He chuckled as he stood, deciding to leave the pair for now, apparently they needed the rest.

After dressing in a pair of loose sweatpants and a thick hoodie he cast a look back at his bed. Despite the freed-up space the lads hadn’t spread out at all, still clinging to each other in their sleep. He smiled at the sleeping men, leaning down to press a kiss against Gavin’s cheek and only hesitating for a moment before doing the same for Jeremy. He left the room with a spring in his step.

 

\-------------------

 

It had taken longer than Geoff had planned to get around to Gavin’s business with the duffel bag. Work had caught up with them; apparently not all of the spirits had left peacefully that night and they were suddenly inundated with families with ghost sightings. At least most of them were fairly easy to resolve; a spell here, a basic task there and voila, they had a happy ghost ready to pass into the underworld.

So it came to be that almost a week after the incident in the warehouse, with Gavin’s injuries (at least the physical ones) almost completely healed, the entire Hunter squad was gathered in their backyard watching Jack attempt to light the fire pit.

“You need to strike it harder, Jack! Those pussy hits aren’t gonna to do shit!” Geoff was definitely helping.

“Shut the fuck up, Geoff! I’ve got this!” The half-giant snapped back, hunching over the pit with a grumble.

“You know; this would be so much easier if you just let me light it with magic…” From Jack’s growl Geoff didn’t think Ryan’s input was at all welcome, but it got a giggle from the previously sombre Gavin so he figured he couldn’t tell him off too badly. Luckily Michael cut in before he had to say anything.

“Ooh, why don’t you let me try, Jack? I bet I could get it lit in no time!” The lad’s eyes were way too bright for Geoff’s liking, he curled a protective arm around a laughing Griffon.

“No, we want to light the fire, not burn the damn house down! Now will you just-” Jack let out a loud noise of victory. “I’ve got it!”

“Holy fuck, finally.” Lindsay muttered under her breath, Griffon and Geoff casting her understanding looks as she slammed a huge gulp of her beer.

It was a few more minutes before the fire was going properly, the large blaze barely contained by the outer edges of the fire pit. Gavin was silent where he stood flanked by Ryan and Jeremy, eyes locked on the fire before him as it grew higher and higher into the sky.

“You ready, Gav?” Jeremy’s gentle words broke the spell the flames seemed to have cast over the vampire and he hefted the bag into his arms.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.” The set expression on his face just barely covered the emotions below, but thankfully no one brought up the way Gavin’s eyes seemed just slightly darker than usual as he took a step towards the fire.

“Careful, Gav, you know how vampires and fire get along.” Trevor called from the side-lines, a slight grin on his lips as he broke some of the tension.

Gavin scoffed, “Yeah, I’m aware, Treyco! Thanks for the tip though, it was top.” Gavin’s words seeped sarcasm and something about his tone relaxed Geoff slightly, allowing him to sag against Griffon’s side. The lad would be okay.

“Ryan, you ready with that shield?” Gavin shouted back at his boyfriend, the mage just nodding in answer. Without any more ado the Brit dropped the bag into the centre of the fire, taking a speedy walk back to the reassuring arms of the other men as Ryan erected a tall transparent barrier around the blaze to stop them being pelted with any debris which may fly off. And hopefully to stop the smell from getting to Gavin too much, the last thing they needed was a vomiting vampire.

The fire blazed on for a moment, burning through the fabric of the bag and heating the insides until finally the plastic and glass within began to melt and shatter, pops and bubbling audible through the shield. Gavin turned his face into Jeremy’s shoulder, although knowing him it was probably less out of any form of upset and more from nausea from literally seeing his own organs cooking before him. The werewolf offered him a not-entirely patronising pat to the head.

They all stood solemnly until the majority of the contents of the bag had been destroyed, silently sipping their drinks as they watched the evidence of their friend’s torture evaporate away.

Soon after the group began to drift away, a discussion about a possible Mario Party game going with them as they headed back towards the house after offering Gavin supportive pats on the back. The trio remained, watching the final flames die back down, the bag burnt away to nothing. Ryan turned his face towards Gavin, saying something Geoff couldn’t catch from so far away before pressing a kiss into the Brit’s hair.

Geoff watched from the doorway, knowing he should go inside but just taking a moment to watch the three of them and revel in the fact that Gavin no longer had to walk his path alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wahey! It's done! And I somehow managed to get it to finish on Christmas (through no planning of my own!) But yeah, hopefully you guys enjoyed it, I just wanted to take a minute to let you know how much I appreciate all the comments and kudos and views I've gotten on this, it's really helped to build up my confidence again after so long not writing.   
> So yeah, thank you guys for everything, it's been a real blast! And I'll hopefully see you all in the new year! Merry Christmas!
> 
> By the way, I'm also gothysexbang over on tumblr if anyone wants an easier way of getting in contact with me, will be starting to post on there more now and will be posting updates whenever I write/update a fic if that's an easier way for people to be reminded :) May also take prompts etc. if bored

**Author's Note:**

> I'm curious whether anyone can work out what creatures different people are from just the first chapter, some of them are pretty impossible, some of them are a lot easier. Let me know your guesses?  
> So I'm going to aim to post a new chapter every week, probably sometime on Sunday? I've got the first three chapters already written out so I've got a bit of a buffer to hopefully prevent panic writing :)  
> Also, relationship stuff will probably be a pretty slow-burn because I'm mostly focusing on plot at the start, but we'll start seeing more shippy stuff in the next couple of chapters.


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